Urals crude differentials to dated Brent inched up on Friday after cargoes of the grade were offered to buyers in India at narrower discounts, trade sources said.

Traders have resumed offers of Russian crude cargoes to Indian refiners after a delay triggered by recently imposed U.S. sanctions, Indian refining sources said on Friday.

The discounts on Russian flagship Urals grade for March delivery have narrowed to between $2.50 and $3 per barrel to Dubai compared with deals at about $3.50 concluded in December for volumes delivered in January and February, one of the sources said.

OPEC+ is unlikely to alter existing plans to raise output gradually when it meets on Monday, delegates from the producer group told Reuters, despite U.S. President Donald Trump urging OPEC and its de facto leader Saudi Arabia to bring down prices.

PLATTS WINDOW

No bids or offers were shown for Urals, Azeri BTC and CPC Blend in the Platts window on Friday.

NEWS

Russia’s second-largest oil producer Lukoil plans to raise around $2 billion from the sale of its Burgas oil refinery in Bulgaria, RIA news agency reported late on Thursday, quoting Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov.

An oil refinery in Russia’s southern Volgograd region caught fire after an overnight Ukrainian drone attack, but the blaze has now been put out, the regional governor said on Friday.

Investments in oil and gas exploration projects in Russia remained steady last year in comparison to 2023 at 320 billion roubles ($3.27 billion), the Natural Resources Ministry said on Friday.

Kazakh oil pipeline operator KazTransOil said on Friday it planned to export about 22,000 metric tons of oil from the Kashagan oilfield via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in January.
Source: Reuters