The price of Russia’s flagship Urals oil blend in roubles reached a 12-month high this week and exceeded the breakeven level for the federal budget due to substantial weakening in the currency, Reuters calculations showed.

The Urals price rose to 5,081 roubles per barrel on Tuesday, having risen by 8.5% for the past week. That’s the highest since the end of July 2022.

The oil price in roubles is important for Russia’s budget and the setting of both the mineral extraction tax and the oil export duty.

The Russian rouble weakened again on Wednesday, heading back towards the 90 mark against the dollar, with demand for foreign currency outweighing supply and as last month’s domestic political turmoil kept risk appetite low.

The rouble lost more than 9% in June and is down around 20% so far this year, making it one of the world’s worst-performing currencies.

The Russian budget for 2023 assumes a Urals price of 4,788 roubles per barrel.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Maxim Nazarov; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Devika Syamnath)