Saudi raises crude price to Europe, Asia, cuts it for US

 Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude exporter, Wednesday raised the April prices of its oil to Asia and Europe but cut it slightly for shipments to the United States.

The move comes after oil prices made some gains with Brent North Sea crude reaching $37 a barrel and US benchmark WTI crude racing close to $34 a barrel.

National oil conglomerate Aramco said the price of Arabian light crude for Asia was raised $0.25 a barrel from March but remained $0.75 a barrel below the benchmark price.

The super light and extra light grades were also raised, it said in a statement.

Asia, especially China, remains the largest market for Saudi Arabia and its Gulf partners and has seen stiff competition in an oversupplied market.

For northwestern Europe, Arabian light crude was raised $0.35 a barrel but remained $4.60 a barrel below the benchmark price, the statement said.

All other grades were raised by $0.20 a barrel but still remained well below the benchmark price, Aramco said.

The kingdom slightly cut the April price of all export grades to the United States by between $0.20 to $0.30 a barrel.

For Middle East shipments, Riyadh slightly cut the price of two grades but kept two others unchanged.