Saudi Arabia’s surprise announcement that it would cut 1 million barrels per day (bpd) beyond its share of OPEC+ cuts in February and March has refiners in Asia scrambling to secure supplies from Europe, with record purchases of North Sea cargoes in one day. Saudi Arabia caught the market by surprise earlier this week when it said after the end of the OPEC+ ministerial meeting that it would unilaterally cut 1 million bpd off its crude oil production for the next two months. While the Saudi move has been supporting oil prices all week, the tightening supplies out of the world’s top oil exporter have apparently upended the plans of Asian oil buyers. A day later, the Saudis also raised the official selling prices (OSPs) of their oil for Asia for February, lifting the price of the flagship Arab Light grade by $0.70 a barrel to a premium of […]