Urals crude differentials remained unchanged on Friday, but the price for the Russian grade has risen above the Western price cap amid strength in Brent.

Russia’s Urals crude oil price rose on Friday above the $60/barrel limit imposed by Western nations as the Brent price climbed back after a dramatic fall earlier this week, traders said and Reuters calculations showed.

Urals oil cargo loadings from Russia’s Baltic and Black Sea port were priced around $61 per barrel on Friday on a free-on-board basis, which excludes charter costs and insurance, according to Reuters calculations.

Russia’s offline primary oil refining capacity in September is set to jump 34% from August, according to Reuters calculations based on data from industry sources, owing to technical outages, Ukrainian drone attacks and seasonal maintenance.

PLATTS WINDOW

There were no bids or offers for Urals, CPC Blend or Azeri BTC in the Platts window on Friday.

NEWS

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which exports Kazakhstan’s oil via the Black Sea, increased oil exports to 43.8 million metric tons in the January-August period, up 2.6% from the same period in 2023, the consortium said on Friday.

Oil exports via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which runs from Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey, were down 3.5% to 19.39 million metric tons on a year-on-year basis in the January-August period, Azerbaijan’s state statistics committee said on Friday.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Paul Simao)