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Saudi Aramco offers crude outside Hormuz to some Asian refiners, sources say

SINGAPORE/NEW DELHI: Saudi Aramco is offering crude oil outside the Strait of Hormuz to some Asian refiners through private negotiations, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Monday, in a strategy similar to that adopted by United Arab Emirates' Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC).

In a rare move, Aramco is in talks with buyers to supply Arab Medium and Arab Heavy crude via ship-to-ship (STS) transfers off Fujairah in the UAE, the sources said. One of them said the cargoes were for September loading. It was not immediately clear how Aramco moved its cargoes out to Fujairah. The offers are the latest sign of crude supplies finding their way around the prolonged disruption to the Strait of Hormuz.

Aramco declined to comment. Aramco has also diverted its Arab Light crude to the Red Sea port of Yanbu for export since the Iran war began, and also offered the grade from Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir following attacks in the Red Sea by the Iran-aligned Houthis. Disruption in supplies from the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea, due to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and attacks on vessels by Yemen's Houthis, has curtailed Aramco's market share in key consuming markets such as India. In contrast, sustained shipment of crude from inside the Gulf to waters outside the Strait have helped boost UAE's oil sales with ADNOC selling more than 100 million barrels through tenders.

The arrangements allow Asian refiners to receive crude without sending their own tankers through the strait, where security concerns have deterred many shipowners from entering.

(Reporting by Siyi Liu in Singapore and Nidhi Verma in New Delhi; Editing by Toby Chopra, Alexandra Hudson)