Adnoc trims Asian crude sales as Aramco reassures Europe

Adnoc is trimming spot sales shipments to Asia — and Murban is already pricing it in. Abu Dhabi’s state oil company plans to cut the volume of crude it sells to Asian customers in August and September by around 5%, Bloomberg reports, citing people it says are familiar with the matter. The reduced volumes plan, which comes as Adnoc prepares for scheduled maintenance in some onshore oil fields, has sent Murban to a four-month high, with a premium hovering around USD 7.00 in this week’s spot trading.

Why it matters: Murban is Adnoc’s flagship grade and a reference price for Asia’s sour crude buyers. Reducing traded spot volumes could mark a temporary retreat from the UAE’s push to expand its market share after exiting from Opec. The UAE’s share of Middle East crude shipments to Asia rose to 32% in June and 27% in July, up from 20% a year earlier, according to Kpler data cited by Baird Maritime.

Meanwhile, Saudi’s Aramco is meeting the moment for its European customers after initial concerns that Asian buyers will clinch most of the oil that is still flowing. Aramco told at least three European refiners that they’ll get their full contractual crude volumes for September, Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter. Two of the buyers will lift from Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Sidi Kreir, and the third was offered a choice of Sidi Kreir, Yanbu, or a ship-to-ship transfer off Malta.

Some Asian buyers passed on Sidi Kreir shipments, due to longer voyages and more expensive shipping costs. That likely cleared up the needed volumes for Europe, as the allocation arrived about a week later than usual.

Credit blues

Libya’s Economy and Trade Ministry has suspended commercial licenses of 27 companies over letters of credit (LC) issues worth USD 146.7 mn, pending a compliance review, state-owned news agency LANA reports. The LCs were all issued in 2026 to just three family-related beneficiaries, identified only by initials EAA, HEA, and AAA.

What does this mean? The decision suspends each company’s commercial registration, import license, and registered importer status, until the review concludes. The ministry stressed the move is precautionary, not a finding of wrongdoing, and framed it as part of a broader push to tighten Libya’s foreign trade financing and protect the economy from practices that distort competition.

SOUND SMART- LCs are bank-guaranteed trade finance instruments that importers use to buy goods from abroad, and they provide a major mechanism to access Libya’s fragmented banking sector. Regulators usually watch for such unusually large concentrations of them in a small number of hands as a red-flag for foreign currency mis-use or shell-company abuse. In 2024, the Central Bank of Libya issued an order mandating that it reviews and approve all requests to open LCs with Libyan banks in a bid to limit fraud and tighten its control of FX flows.

Libya has an LC problem: This isn’t the first time the government in Libya has suspended companies over LCs investigations. Last February, the Ministry ordered the Central Bank of Libya (CBL) to suspend 85 import companies over suspected fraud concerning LCs issued in 2025 to import cooking oil worth USD 130 mn. Earlier last year, the CBL suspended 12 medical supply companies over similar import fraud allegations.

No more salary floors

Saudi eases salary requirement for Saudized management jobs: The Saudi government lifted the SAR 6k minimum salary requirement for locals in project management jobs that count towards Saudization quotas, the Human Resources Ministry’s Director General of Business Sectors Localization Ayman Shokr told the Arabic press (watch, runtime: 6:09).

The move is likely aimed at giving employers some flexibility ahead of the new 70% Saudization target for project management roles by February 2027. Earlier this week, the Kingdom told private sector employers they have a six-month grace period to recruit and complete hiring to meet that new Saudization rate, which would apply to private sector entities employing three or more people as project management manager, project management engineer, or project management specialist.

Data point

Foreign investors are still showing robust interest in Saudi despite a 1H marred by regional geopolitical instability and trade disruptions. Licenses issued to foreign players jumped by about 168% y-o-y to record 16.6k during 1H 2026, with 2Q seeing a q-o-q rise of some 18% to 9k, up from 7.6k licenses in 1Q. The rise was concentrated in wholesale and retail trade, construction, and manufacturing, which together account for about 66% of all the new licenses issued.