Saudi Aramco may drop the price of crude exports, factoring in a weakened demand for the commodity from key Asian markets.

According to a confidential Bloomberg poll of refiners in Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and India, the company has seen it profits from bunker fuel, used in shipping, drop during June.

Speaking to the news agency, Akira Kamiyama, a Tokyo-based energy trader at Mitsui & Co, said: "Aramco wants to increase the price of the heavy grades but if they increase beyond market expectations then the demand disappears, so Aramco is concerned about that."

Although downstream profits have slumped for Aramco, the company earlier this year announced that it is to establish a new upstream oil and gas training centre to improve technical proficiency in the workforce.

The new four-storey training and development facilities will be located in Dhahran and are due to be completed in July next year.

Global Education and Training event for Oil and Gas: Refining and Petrochemicals