Petroliam Nasional Bhd, Malaysia’s state oil and gas company, increased a price-adjustment factor for its Tapis crude for this month’s shipments to a record.
The factor was raised by 40 cents, or 11 per cent, from August to US$4.10 a barrel for September, said an official at Petronas, as the Kuala Lumpur-based company is known, asking not to be identified because of corporate policy. Last year, the price factor averaged US$2.48.
The increase follows a recovery in margins for processing light crude such as Tapis into gasoil, or diesel. The product’s premium to Dubai crude, the Asian benchmark, was at US$11.38 a barrel today, up 42 per cent so far this year, according to brokers PVM Oil Associates. This crack spread is a measure of refining profit.
Petronas includes the adjustment factor in its formula for calculating monthly official selling prices. The other component is the average of twice-weekly assessments compiled by the Asian Petroleum Price Index, a Hong Kong-based panel of traders. -- Bloomberg
