Urals discount widens as Baltic crude shipments fall, Kommersant reports

Kommersant reports, citing Argus, that the discount on Russian Urals crude to Dated Brent in Baltic ports widened by $1.45 to $20.85 a barrel in the week of 5–9 October. According to the newspaper, preliminary Vortexa and Kpler data cited by Argus show Urals shipments from Baltic ports fell 21.9% week on week to 1.43 million tonnes, with cargoes to the Indo-Pacific down 27.7%. Kommersant links the trend to rising freight costs and weaker Indian demand as Middle East supplies recover, saying the cost of shipping crude from Primorsk to India's west coast rose by $8.71 to $27.89 a barrel. One analyst says Russia's share of India's crude imports fell to about 35% in September from 56% in July.

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