DUBAI  - Abu Dhabi said on Friday it was pricing its oil cargoes further ahead of time, days after it joined Saudi Arabia in promising to raise oil supply to a record high in April, which helped to drive a deep sell-off in the market.

The two Gulf producers announced the output increases following a standoff with Russia after it refused to cooperate with deeper output cuts proposed by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. 

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) cut its official selling price for its flagship Murban crude for April by $4.63 a barrel, setting it at minus $2.75 a barrel to the Platts Dubai benchmark compared to plus $1.88 per barrel for March.

"In response to unprecedented market conditions, and to provide better forward visibility to our customers, ADNOC has taken the decision to announce forward prices for March and April 2020 crude oil sales," ADNOC said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia has already cut its April crude prices for all grades and to all destinations. 

Oil prices have almost halved since the start of the year because of concern OPEC members will flood the market with oil in their battle with Russia when demand is likely to be greatly reduced as the coronavirus pandemic limits fuel consumption.

ADNOC said Friday's annoucement was "an interim measure, intended to allow customers to better plan their crude purchases in light of the current market situation".

It also said it was still committed to its plan to trade Murban on a new independent exchange, ICE Futures Abu Dhabi (IFAD), once it receives the needed regulatory approvals.

 

Below are the prices in US dollars per barrel for all crude grades for March and April:

GRADE MARCH APRIL Murban +$1.88 -$2.75 Umm Lulu +$0.30 +$0.10 Das -$0.75 -$0.25 Upper Zakum -$0.95 -$0.30

* Murban crude is priced to Platts Dubai benchmark. * Umm Lulu, Das and Upper Zakum grades are priced to the Murban as benchmark

 

 

(Reporting by Rania El Gamal in Dubai and Sumita Layek and Swati Verma in Bengaluru; Editing by Jane Merriman and Mark Heinrich) ((rania.elgamal@thomsonreuters.com; +971 562 160 434; Reuters Messaging: rania.elgamal.reuters.com@reuters.net))