Saudi Arabia cuts oil prices for Asia and Europe as demand cools

State-controlled Saudi Aramco lowered its key Arab Light grade for next month’s shipments to Asian refineries from a record to $5.85 a barrel above the Middle Eastern benchmark – a decrease of almost $4 from September.  The move was largely in line with traders’ expectations and follows a 25 per cent drop in Brent crude futures in the past three months to below $95 a barrel.  It also came a day after OPEC+ agreed to a surprise production cut for October.  Despite signals of slowing consumption in many major economies, the global market remains tight. Many analysts forecast that demand will outstrip supply in the final quarter of this year, especially if Russia reacts to a G7-proposed cap on its oil prices by limiting exports.