War Complicates Pricing of Saudi Arabia’s Oil for Asia

Days before it is slated to announce pricing for May-loading cargoes for Asia, the world’s top crude exporter, Saudi Arabia, is unsure how the typical price mechanism could apply and is under pressure from buyers to switch to alternative pricing, as the war is upending oil flows and roiling regional benchmarks. Saudi Arabia typically announces around the fifth of each month its crude pricing for the following month and doesn’t comment on price changes. It also sets the tone for the pricing of the other major oil producers in the Middle…