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Iraq Raises June Basrah Medium Crude Price to Asia to $4.30 a Barrel

Flames emerge from flare stacks at Nahr Bin Umar oil field, north of Basra, Iraq March 9, 2020. (Reuters)
Flames emerge from flare stacks at Nahr Bin Umar oil field, north of Basra, Iraq March 9, 2020. (Reuters)
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Iraq Raises June Basrah Medium Crude Price to Asia to $4.30 a Barrel

Flames emerge from flare stacks at Nahr Bin Umar oil field, north of Basra, Iraq March 9, 2020. (Reuters)
Flames emerge from flare stacks at Nahr Bin Umar oil field, north of Basra, Iraq March 9, 2020. (Reuters)

Iraq has raised the June official selling price for Basrah Medium crude oil to Asia to $4.30 a barrel against the average of Oman/Dubai quotes from the May OSP of $17.30 a barrel, state-owned Iraqi oil marketer SOMO said on Sunday.

Basra Heavy to Asia in the same month was priced at $2.20 a barrel to Oman/Dubai quotes, from $15.20 a barrel set for May.

Iraq has offered term buyers May-loading Basrah crude at steep discounts for loading inside the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely blocked since ‌the Iran conflict began.

The OPEC producer is offering its flagship Basrah Medium crude at discounts of $33.40, or $26 a barrel to its May official selling price, for loading on May 1 to May 10 or May 11 to May 31, ⁠respectively, according to a May 3 notice from state oil marketer SOMO seen by Reuters.

It also offered May-loading Basrah Heavy crude at a discount of $30 per barrel to the May OSP, the document showed.

The cargoes are sold on a free-on-board basis at the Basrah Oil Terminal or Single Point Moorings, both located inside the Strait of Hormuz.

The OSP is determined ‌on ⁠the final destination of the cargoes, it said.

The discounts underscore mounting pressure on Iraqi crude exports as shipping risks persist in the waterway, a ⁠critical artery for global oil flows.

Iraqi crude exports, which averaged 3.33 million barrels per day in 2025, are mostly shipped to Asia, ⁠Kpler data showed.

In April, only two vessels loaded at Iraq's Basra port, one of them has past the Strait ⁠of Hormuz while the other one has not been out, according to Kpler.

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Business

South Korean Airlines Cut Flights Amid Soaring Oil Prices

 A Korean Air aircraft parked at the Incheon International Airport, South Korea (X) 
 A Korean Air aircraft parked at the Incheon International Airport, South Korea (X) 
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South Korean Airlines Cut Flights Amid Soaring Oil Prices

 A Korean Air aircraft parked at the Incheon International Airport, South Korea (X) 
 A Korean Air aircraft parked at the Incheon International Airport, South Korea (X) 

South Korean low-cost carriers have cut 900 round-trip flights and introduced unpaid leave and other emergency measures as the ongoing conflict in the Middle East has driven up fuel prices, industry officials said Sunday.

The flight cuts came as jet fuel prices surged following the US-Iran conflict, Yonhap News Agency reported.

As some airlines have yet to finalize their June schedules, the number of flight reductions is expected to increase further, according to the officials.

Jeju Air, South Korea’s largest budget airline, decided to cut 187 round-trip international flights, equivalent to 4% of its total operations, on routes from Incheon, west of Seoul, to Bangkok, Singapore, and the Vietnamese cities of Da Nang and Phu Quoc during May and June.

Since late April, it has also suspended its Vientiane route for two months.

Jin Air cut 176 round-trip flights to destinations, including Guam and Phu Quoc, through the end of this month. Further reductions are expected once its June schedule is finalized.

Among full-service carriers, Asiana Airlines has cut 27 round-trip flights on six routes, including Phnom Penh and Istanbul, through July following the outbreak of the Middle East conflict.

Korean Air, South Korea’s largest carrier, has not yet adjusted its flight operations but said it is closely monitoring the situation under an emergency management system.

Jet fuel prices have surged 2.5 times since the outbreak of the war.

The average Singapore jet fuel price, which is used as the benchmark for fuel surcharges, stood at $214.71 per barrel from March 16 to April 15, up 150% from two months earlier.

Budget airlines are particularly vulnerable due to their weaker financial conditions compared with major carriers.

 

Business

Oil Soars as Trump Rejects Iran's Terms

An oil rig operates in the Permian Basin oil field in Texas, USA (Reuters)
An oil rig operates in the Permian Basin oil field in Texas, USA (Reuters)
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Oil Soars as Trump Rejects Iran's Terms

An oil rig operates in the Permian Basin oil field in Texas, USA (Reuters)
An oil rig operates in the Permian Basin oil field in Texas, USA (Reuters)

Oil prices rose in Asian trade on Monday after US President Donald Trump rejected Iran's terms for ending the war in the Middle East, while stocks were mixed.

Trump's repudiation of Iran's response to his latest peace proposal raised the likelihood of further violence and disruptions to oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, reported AFP.

"I have just read the response from Iran's so-called 'Representatives.' I don't like it -- TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!" said Trump, who is due in China this week where the war will likely loom large in discussions.

"We will never bow down to the enemy, and if there is talk of dialogue or negotiation, it does not mean surrender or retreat," Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Sunday on X.

"President Trump's swift rejection of these counter-demands underscores the wide gulf between both sides, pointing to a risk of prolonged uncertainty rather than rapid de-escalation," said Lloyd Chan at Japanese bank MUFG.

"For oil markets, this suggests a persistent geopolitical risk premium as Hormuz disruptions drag on," Chan said.

Stocks were mixed, with the Nikkei down 0.4 percent and the Hang Seng off 0.34 percent but Seoul's Kopsi was up four percent, boosted by tech stocks.

In Tokyo, Nintendo shares plunged almost 10 percent after the Japanese gaming giant warned Friday of lower profits this year and said it would hike the price of its Switch 2 console.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was due in Japan and South Korea before heading to China for Trump's high-stakes summit with President Xi Jinping, which Beijing on Monday confirmed would take place Wednesday to Friday.

In Japan Bessent was set to meet Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Tuesday, with Tokyo's reported recent market interventions to support the yen likely a talking point.

In Seoul the treasury secretary said he would meet Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.

"Economic security is national security," Bessent said on X.

While Washington and Beijing slapped tit-for-tat tariffs on each other's exports a year ago, Trump and Xi agreed on a year-long trade truce in October in South Korea.

Business

Qatari LNG Tanker Crosses Strait of Hormuz

The Qatari ‘Al Kharaitiyat’ tanker, which loaded at the Ras Laffan export plant (X) 
The Qatari ‘Al Kharaitiyat’ tanker, which loaded at the Ras Laffan export plant (X) 
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Qatari LNG Tanker Crosses Strait of Hormuz

The Qatari ‘Al Kharaitiyat’ tanker, which loaded at the Ras Laffan export plant (X) 
The Qatari ‘Al Kharaitiyat’ tanker, which loaded at the Ras Laffan export plant (X) 

A tanker carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar appears to have transited the Strait of Hormuz, marking the country’s first export out of the region since the Iran war began.

The Al Kharaitiyat, which loaded at the Ras Laffan export plant earlier this month, exited the strait and is in the Gulf of Oman, ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg shows.

The vessel lists Pakistan as its next destination, according to the data.

The ship is navigating the Tehran-approved northern route and has sailed past Larak Island, according to the tracking data.

The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) shipping data showed that Qatari LNG tanker Al Kharaitiyat was sailing towards the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday after departing Qatar's Ras Laffan en route to Port Qasim in Pakistan.

A successful passage would mark the first transit by a Qatari LNG tanker through the strait since the start of the war on Iran.

The LNG is being sold by Qatar to Pakistan - a mediator in the war - under ⁠a government-to-government deal, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. They said Iran had approved the shipment to help build confidence with Qatar and Pakistan.

Pakistan has been in discussions with Iran to allow a limited number of LNG tankers to pass through the strait, as Islamabad urgently needs to address its gas shortage, a source briefed on the agreement told Reuters.

Iran agreed to assist, and the two sides are coordinating the first vessel's safe passage carrying gas ‌supplied ⁠under Pakistan's agreement with Qatar, its main LNG supplier, the source added.

The vessel, managed by Nakilat Shipping Qatar Ltd and sailing under the Marshall Islands flag, has a cargo capacity of 211,986 cubic meters, according to LSEG data.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards halted two Qatar ⁠LNG tankers, Al Daayen and Rasheeda, that had been heading towards the Strait of Hormuz on April 6 and instructed them to hold position without explanation, a source told Reuters ⁠at the time.

Qatar is the world's second-largest exporter of LNG, with shipments mostly going to buyers in Asia. Iranian attacks knocked out 17% of Qatar's ⁠LNG export capacity, with repairs expected to sideline 12.8 million tons per year of the fuel for three to five years.