Norway's state-controlled Equinor is boosting its presence in the Asian oil market, having doubled its crude sales to the region, as the European major takes the opportunity to grab as much market share as possible amid the ongoing output cuts by OPEC+.

"We have doubled our sales of light and medium crude to Asia over the last two years," Molly Morris, Equinor's senior vice president of crude, products and liquids, said ahead of the 36th Annual Asia Pacific Petroleum Virtual Conference. "We are a major supplier to the refineries in Asia."

Equinor, which sells oil from the North Sea as well as locations like North America, Brazil and West Africa, is increasing its crude sales from its global portfolio to Asia, which is estimated to be around 200 million barrels in 2020, up from the 170 million barrels -- most of which was sourced from the Atlantic Basin -- in 2019, Morris said. This growth compares with its global crude trading volume of about 85 million barrels to Asia in 2017.