Saudi Arabia cuts oil price to Asia as battle with Iran heats up

Dubai

SAUDI Aramco, the world's largest oil exporter, lowered the pricing terms for Arab Light crude sold to Asia by the most in 10 months, signalling that Saudi Arabia has no plans to back down while Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) rival Iran tries to regain market share amid a global oversupply.

State-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co said on Sunday that it will sell cargoes of Arab Light in September at US$1.10 a barrel below Asia's regional benchmark. That is a pricing cut of US$1.30 from August, the biggest drop since November, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.