Russia’s Urals crude prices hold firm in Indian ports, traders say

The price of Russian Urals crude oil is holding firm in Indian ports as the market’s focus shifts to cargoes loading next month amid an expected limited lifting plan for Russia’s western ports, traders said on Thursday.

Urals oil cargoes loading in early August are changing hands at discounts of $3 to $3.50 per barrel to dated Brent on a delivered ex-ship (DES) basis in Indian ports, in line with June and July cargoes, they said.

Industry sources believe Russia will keep export flows low in August to meet peak domestic seasonal demand for motor fuels.

“Freight rates (from Russia’s Baltic and Black Sea ports) to India remain low, which may indicate sufficient supply of tonnage amid small lifting schedules”, one trader dealing with Russian crude told Reuters.

Russia’s total offline primary oil refining capacity in August will fall to 1.543 million tonnes from 1.792 million tonnes in July to the lowest level in 2024.

Freight rates to ship Russian oil have fallen this month towards parity with those for other global exporters for the first time since 2022 as more tankers are available despite Western sanctions and exports fall.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Reuters in Moscow and Nidhi Verma in New Delhi; Editing by Mark Potter)