Saudi crude supply to China to hit three-month high after price cuts

Crude oil exports by Saudi Arabia to China are set to touch a three-month high in January after the kingdom slashed its official selling prices to Asia, sources said on Tuesday.

State oil company Saudi Aramco will ship about 49.5 million barrels to China next month, or about 1.60 million barrels per day, a tally of allocations to Chinese refiners showed.

The allocation volume marks a jump from the previous two months, when it remained under 40 million barrels, and is the highest since October, according to Reuters records.

Companies that planned to increase Saudi crude liftings next month included PetroChina, Rongsheng Petrochemical and Shenghong Petrochemical, the sources said. Meanwhile, CNOOC and Hengli Petrochemical will lift less than in the prior month.

Saudi Aramco did not immediately comment on its January allocation to China.

The state producer last week released its official selling prices for January, cutting the flagship Arab Light crude oil price to Asia by 60 cents a barrel above the Oman/Dubai average, the lowest level in five years.

The lowered price made it attractive for term buyers to lift more, while OSPs becoming cheaper than spot benchmarks also spurred demand, two of the sources said. Chinese independent refiners also received the first batch of 2026 import quotas in late November.

(Reporting by Siyi Liu in Singapore; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Rashmi Aich)