Aramco offers struggling refiners option to defer crude payments: Report

Oil plants are struggling with shrinking demand as coronavirus pandemic shuts off economies.

Saudi Aramco has offered oil refineries in Asia and Europe the option to defer payments for crude cargo deliveries by up to 90 days as plants struggle with shrinking demand, sources said.

The credit terms, which Saudi Arabia's national oil company offered through unnamed Saudi banks in recent weeks, are also seen as part of the Kingdom's ongoing efforts to increase its market share, the sources told Reuters.

Aramco "are asking us to amend our existing agreement to include a bill of exchange which will give you basically an opportunity to pay through a bank in 90 days time," one source at an Asian refiner said.