July 9 (Bloomberg) -- Kuwait Petroleum Corp. reduced its August crude oil official selling price for the first time in three months because of a lower profit in producing fuel oil.

The state-owned company cut its price to parity to the average of Persian Gulf benchmarks Oman and Dubai grades, from the July premium of 30 cents a barrel, said a trader who asked not to be identified because of company policy.

Kuwait’s high-sulfur export blend has a high yield of fuel oil, a product with June margins that fell to an average of $7.95 a barrel below Dubai crude oil, the worst in seven months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Kuwait, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumped 2.18 million barrels a day of crude oil last month, below its OPEC quota of 2.22 million barrels a day and its capacity of 2.65 million barrels a day, according to a Bloomberg survey of analysts and producers.

To contact the reporter on this story: Yee Kai Pin in Singapore at kyee13@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 8, 2009 21:55 EDT