finance
Saudi Arabia Cuts Oil Prices to Asia by Up to $11 per Barrel After Record May Highs
Saudi Arabia reduced its official selling prices for crude oil to Asian customers by as much as $11 per barrel on July 6. Other Gulf exporters made deeper cuts to move stored barrels while Iranian supplies returned to the market. Weak Asian demand has shifted leverage toward buyers.
Jul 7, 2:45 AM·1m read1 source
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Saudi Arabia cut its official selling price for crude oil to Asian buyers by as much as $11 per barrel on July 6, 2026. After the adjustment, the kingdom’s flagship Arab Light crude traded at $1.50 below the Dubai/Oman average. Other Gulf exporters reduced prices even more sharply to sell barrels that had remained in the Gulf for over three months.
OilPrice.com reported that the cuts followed record-high Saudi oil prices in May, when traffic through the Strait of Hormuz stayed paralyzed despite the kingdom’s alternative route via the Red Sea port of Yanbu. In mid-June 2026, Iran and the United States agreed on a 60-day negotiation window that lifted sanctions on Iranian crude. Since the memorandum of understanding took effect and the U.S.
Blockade ended, Tehran has exported millions of barrels and narrowed its discounts to benchmarks. Vortexa analyst Emma Li said weak Asian demand, especially from China, combined with the sanctions waiver on Iranian crude, had intensified competition among sellers and shifted the market in buyers’ favor.
