Spread between Russia’s Urals and Brent benchmark narrows – Reuters data

The spread between Russia’s flagship Urals blend of oil and the international benchmark Brent has narrowed after Russia managed to set up logistics and payments with buyers outside Europe such as India and China, Reuters monitoring showed on Friday.

According to the data, the price differential between Urals and Brent BFO-URL-NWE recently narrowed to $17 per barrel from $34.85 in April – June 2022, just months after Moscow started what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Higher oil prices, one of Russia’s key sources of state revenues, would improve the revenues of the Russian budget, which is ran a deficit of $24.12 billion, or 1.5% of gross domestic product, in January-August.

According to Russia’s Finance Ministry, Urals crude oil blend traded at $74.00 per barrel on average in August, up from $64.37 per barrel in July, further rising above the Western-imposed price cap of $60.

The Russian budget assumes the break even price of oil at $70.1 per barrel for 2023.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)