Iraq has informed its customers that it plans to change its price benchmark for Basra crude in Asia to DME Oman futures from January, the country’s latest move to reform its oil sales. The proposed change by state-oil marketer SOMO would mark a major shift by OPEC’s second-largest producer away from fellow members Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran, which have been using price assessments from global agency S&P Global Platts as their benchmark for decades. It throws down the gauntlet on setting prices for more than 12 million barrels per day of Middle East crude in Asia, challenging the role of the world’s top exporter Saudi Arabia. “In an effort to realize the intrinsic value of our crude exports to Asia as to be in alignment with the […]