Saudi Aramco, the world’s top exporter of crude oil, has notified at least six Asian customers it will supply full term volumes in December, people with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.

The allocations come after Saudi Arabia more than doubled the price differential of its flagship crude to Asia in December from November, exceeding market expectations and sending a bullish signal to global markets, traders have said.

The market is “already tight, that’s why Saudi didn’t hesitate to raise the OSPs so much”, said one of the sources, who all sought anonymity, as they are not authorised to speak to the media.

The sharper-than-expected price hike followed this month’s meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, which agreed to maintain a production hike of 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) for December, despite consumers’ calls for more.

December is at least the third consecutive month during which Saudi Aramco will give full allocations.

The producer maintained full term crude supplies in November, while some customers had sought more.

Saudi Aramco does not typically comment on commercial volumes as a matter of policy.

Source: Reuters