Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil and gas company Saudi Aramco raised its July selling prices for oil for Asia, and the increase was more than expected, Reuters writes.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, raised July oil prices for Asian buyers to higher-than-expected levels amid fears of a supply shortage and expectations of strong summer demand.

According to the agency, the official selling price for Arab Light for July for Asia has been increased by $2.1 from its June level, which will be $6.5 per barrel above the price of a basket of Oman/Dubai varieties. The increase at the same time turned out to be much stronger than market expectations of an increase of 1-1.5 dollars, the agency notes.

Prices for US consumers were unchanged, while for Northern Europe and the Mediterranean they were increased by $2.2 and $2 respectively, which would be $5.65, $4.3 and $3.9 above the cost of the Argus Sour Crude Index (ASCI ) and ICE Brent.

Earlier in June, the OPEC+ countries decided to increase oil production more intensively in July and August – by 648,000 bpd instead of the planned monthly increase of 432,000 bpd.

Saudi Aramco is the national oil and gas company of Saudi Arabia, founded in 1933. The company is represented in the three main global energy markets of Asia, Europe and North America. The staff exceeds 70 thousand people.