Egypt cut the price of its top grade oil by 50 cents.

That puts the price for Gulf of Suez grade oil at $27.50 a barrel. In addition, Egypt said it is increasing the price of its least expensive oil, Ras Ghareb, by 15 cents to $25.75 a barrel. Other prices were left unchanged. Egypt’s oil minister, Abdel-Hadi Kandil, said the current level of production of 870,000 barrels a day will be maintained. Half of the oil is exported, mostly to customers in Europe. Meanwhile, in the United States, Texaco became the first of the major oil companies to cut the price it is willing to pay for the top domestic grade of oil to $27 a barrel, a drop of $1.