Saudi Arabia causes hike in crude prices

Saudi Arabia triggered a rise in oil prices on Monday, after it sharply raised prices for its crude sales in July.

Brent crude futures were up $1.80, or 1.5%, at $121.52 a barrel at 2319 GMT after touching an intraday high of $121.95, extending a 1.8% gain from Friday.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up $1.63, or 1.4%, at $120.50 a barrel after hitting a three-month high of $120.99. The contract gained 1.7% on Friday.

Saudi Arabia raised the official selling price (OSP) for its flagship Arab light crude to Asia to a $6.50 premium versus the average of the Oman and Dubai benchmarks.

This is up from a premium of $4.40 in June, state oil producer Aramco (2222.SE) said on Sunday.

The move came despite a decision last week by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, together called OPEC+, to increase output in July and August by 648,000 barrels per day, or 50% more than previously planned.

The rise in crude prices is an indicator of how tight supply is even after OPEC+ agreed to accelerate its output increases over the next two months.