Asia Buys Less Saudi Crude As COVID Restrictions Return

Some Asian refiners have nominated lower than usual volumes of crude oil from Saudi Arabia in September as authorities in China and the rest of Asia have re-imposed restrictions to fight the Delta variant surge, officials at four refineries told Bloomberg. Aramco has notified those four refineries—one in Southeast Asia and three in Northeast Asia—that it would ship the crude they had asked for, the officials told Bloomberg. China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, or Sinopec, is expected to reduce refinery run rates by up to 10 percent…