Iraq to cut Basrah Light oil prices in Asian, US markets in October

Iraq set on Tuesday the October price of its Basrah Light crude to Asian customers at $0.85 a barrel above the average of the Oman and Dubai benchmark crudes, down $1.40 from the previous month, according to a pricing document from the state-oil marketer.

Iraq has cut Basrah crude prices for Asia by a larger extent compared with Saudi grades following unsold Basra crude cargoes last month. Oil giant Saudi Aramco on Sept lowered the price differential of light crude for delivery to the Far East in October to a premium of $1.7 per barrel versus the average of Oman and Dubai crudes.

This comes as Bloomberg on Tuesday reported Baghdad is also to lower its October US rates for Basrah Light by $1.15 a barrel against a price standard for the Americas.

This is based on data from the national firm responsible for marketing the country's oil sales and comes despite Riyadh not altering its prices in the American market for next month.

Iraq does not often significantly depart from the powerful Gulf monarchy on these matters, Bloomberg said.

(The New Arab, Reuters)