Global energy and commodity price reporting agency Argus is launching today new prices for Russian Urals crude delivered into China, bringing further transparency to Russia’s opaque export market.

Russian Urals exports have remained resilient despite G7 sanctions, which have changed the pattern of global crude flows, diverting Russian material from Europe to India and China. Most Urals goes to India, but about 200,000 b/d heads to China, more than three times the typical 60,000 b/d in the years before 2022.

Urals has become an attractive low-cost alternative to Mideast Gulf sour crude grades for many Chinese firms. Urals competes in China with Arab Light and Iranian Light.

Argus will be publishing daily assessments of Urals on a delivered-at-place (dap) Shandong basis. Shandong is the largest single destination for Urals delivered to China, receiving around 40pc of the national total, at very similar price levels to nearby ports in Liaoning and Tianjin which account for a further 20pc of receipts. Argus assesses a range of other grades delivered into China on a Shandong basis, including Brazilian Tupi, Russian ESPO Blend, Norway’s Johan Sverdrup and Djeno crude from Congo (Brazzaville).

The new Urals assessment will complement Argus’ existing price for Russian ESPO Blend, where market liquidity has shifted from trading on a loading-price basis at the port of Kozmino to the use of delivered prices for ports around Shandong.

Argus Media chairman and chief executive Adrian Binks said: “Our new crude prices for Russian Urals delivered to China will provide market participants with important transparency into this opaque market. Since the Russian crude price cap came into effect in December 2022, flows of Urals have changed significantly and the new patterns are now well established. Our new prices provide a reliable assessment of market value.”
Source: Argus Media