Under pressure from Russian, Iraqi and Iranian oil exports, Saudi Arabia discounted its crude last weekend to maintain its share of big Asian markets. The price cut, which applies to September purchases, comes after two years of high-volume pumping by Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil producer. The kingdom had chosen to feed an oil glut and see prices drop rather than sacrifice sales to international rivals. But in Asia—the main source of oil-demand growth recently—Saudi Arabia has continued to lose ground. Last Sunday, it dropped its prices for Asian customers by between 70 cents and $1.30 a barrel (depending on the grade of oil), helping drive the global crude price below $42 a barrel. That was the deepest price cut since October last year. “The cuts were done to make sure Saudi Arabia remains competitive against sellers from the Middle East and Europe,” says a person familiar with […]