MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Urals oil prices fell to the lowest levels since 2023 as international benchmark Brent prices collapsed amid escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China following the tariffs policy announced last week, Reuters calculations based on traders’ data showed.
Weaker Urals prices will weigh on Russia’s oil revenues – a core basis for Moscow’s budget. A fall in oil and gas revenues comes at a time of tough negotiations between Russia and the United States about the ceasefire in Ukraine.
Brent futures lost $2.43, or 3.7%, to $63.15 a barrel by 1009 GMT as they continue to fall from the last week and are at the lowest since 2021.
Russian Urals oil prices for cargoes loading from Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiisk ports fell to around $53 per barrel last Friday, according to Reuters data. That means that on Monday the prices for the Russian grade might dip to around $50 if the decline of Brent prices continues until the markets close.
If so it will be the lowest price level for Russian Urals oil since March 2023, according to Reuters data and calculations.
At the same time lower prices for Russian oil will help its oil sellers to fix tankers as more western shipowners can enter the market as the prices are below the western price cap, two traders said.
Urals prices are likely to fall $10 per barrel below the western price cap on Monday, Reuters calculations showed.
In late 2022 the Group of Seven countries – the United States, Canada, Britain, Italy, France, Germany and Japan – together with the European Union and Australia imposed a cap of $60 per barrel on the sale of Russian oil on a free-on-board basis, seeking to reduce Russia’s revenue from seaborne oil exports as part of sanctions.
The cost of shipping Urals oil from the Baltic ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga to India fell to $7 million per one-way shipment on average after rising to a 12-month high early in March.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
