Saudi Aramco Cuts LPG Prices for September as Crude Oil Falls

By Nesa Subrahmaniyan

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Aramco, the largest supplier of liquefied petroleum gas to Asia, cut prices of cargoes loading in September from August after global crude oil benchmarks fell.

The Dhahran, Saudi Arabia-based company reduced the price of propane cargoes by $60, or 7 percent, to $800 a metric ton, said a company official who asked not to be identified. Aramco lowered the price of butane by $50, or 5.6 percent, to $840 a ton.

Crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange reached a record $147.27 a barrel on July 11, and since then have dropped more than 19 percent.

Aramco sells LPG under one-year contracts and as individual cargoes for immediate delivery. The cargoes are sold free-on- board, requiring the buyers to pay for shipping costs.

LPG, a by-product of oil refining and crude oil and natural gas output, is used for heating, cooking and as a motor fuel. LPG is also used as an alternative to naphtha for processing into petrochemicals.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nesa Subrahmaniyan in Singapore at nesas@bloomberg.net.