Saudi Arabia's national oil company, Saudi Aramco, raised its crude oil prices for Asian buyers for April. This is the largest increase since August 2022, Bloomberg reported, citing company data.
The prices of Arab light crude oil for Asian buyers were raised by $2.50 a barrel. Traders had expected a price increase of only $0.80 a barrel. The price for Europe and the Mediterranean has increased by $3.50 per barrel, and for the United States by $2.50.
The price increase is due to the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
On March 2, Major General Ebrahim Jabari of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC, the elite branch of the Iranian armed forces) warned that the Strait of Hormuz, through which approximately one-fifth of the world's oil exports pass, would be closed to shipping due to the Israeli-American military operation against the Islamic Republic.