Russian Urals crude is being sold to Indian refineries at the lowest price in at least two years, according to a Bloomberg report citing sources familiar with the matter. U.S. sanctions on Russia’s major oil producers, Rosneft and Lukoil, have brought an end to a lucrative arrangement with Indian refiners, the agency said.
The discount on Urals relative to the international benchmark Brent, including delivery costs, has widened to $7 per barrel for cargoes loading in December and arriving in January. Before the new sanctions, the discount was around $3 per barrel.
According to Bloomberg, most Indian refiners held off on placing orders for Russian crude scheduled to arrive after sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil took effect, shifting instead to suppliers in the Middle East. But in recent days, as prices dropped, some Indian refineries again signaled they were willing to buy Russian oil — but only from sellers not targeted by sanctions, the sources said. Nevertheless , only about one-fifth of the cargoes on offer are supplied by companies not on the sanctions list.
According to Reuters calculations published Nov. 24, Russia’s budget revenues from oil and gas sales may fall in November by roughly 35% compared with November 2024 — to 520 billion rubles ($6.59 billion) — due to cheaper crude and a stronger national currency.