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Urals-Brent Crude Discount Narrowed: Kpler

OIL

Russian oil exporters have narrowed the Urals crude oil discount to Brent by playing Indian and Chinese buyers against each other, Viktor Katona, head of oil analytics at Kpler, said.

  • The Urals blend is priced at a $9-$10/bbl discount to Brent according to Kpler.
  • The Russian Urals crude price fell by 9% month on month to average $53.34/bbl in May, Russia’s Finance Ministry said.
  • The price of Druzhba supplies is based on assessments from agencies such as S&P Platts and Argus. Flows to India and China are “kept deliberately opaque, with very little visibility on a deal-by-deal basis,” Katona said, pointing to the fact that Russian oil producers can get significantly more revenue from seaborne exports to India and China.
  • New buyers of Russian crude have been emerging from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Cuba, Katona added.

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