Saudi Arabia lowered the February official selling prices (OSPs) for the flagship Arab light crude it sells to Asia to plus $1.80 a barrel versus the Oman/Dubai average, the country's state oil producer Aramco said on Thursday.

The price is $1.45 a barrel less than the January OSP. The top oil exporter set its Arab Light OSP to northwest Europe at minus $1.50 a barrel against ICE Brent for February, $1.40 a barrel lower than its price for January.

The price cut comes as Russia diverts its oil from Europe to Asia, after the European Union banned seaborne crude oil imports from Dec. 5, alongside a price cap introduced by the Group of Seven (G7) nations that restricts Russian oil trade using Western financial, shipping and insurance services.

Russia became the top crude supplier to both China and India in November, as the Asian countries took advantage of the steep discounts while Western countries eschewed business with Moscow. Meanwhile, the OSP to the United States was unchanged from last month at $6.35 versus ASCI for February.

(Reporting by Florence Tan and Brijesh Patel; Editing by Jon Boyle, Mark Potter and David Evans)