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Urals oil price discount to Brent in Baltic ports at $26-27 per barrel, says Deputy PM

The discount is significantly below the indicative level, which is set for the calculation of mineral extraction tax, Alexander Novak said

MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/. The discount of Russian Urals oil to North Sea Brent in the Baltic ports is now $26-27 per barrel, significantly below the indicative level, which is set for the calculation of mineral extraction tax (MET), tax on additional income from hydrocarbon production and export duty. Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Alexander Novak said this talking to reporters on Thursday.

"Now the discount is actually lower than the minimum that is set in the law. <…> Now the discount on North Sea oil in the Baltic is $26-27 per barrel, and in the law the discount is $34 per barrel in April, that is, the taxable base is higher," Novak said.

He added that today taxation is tied to the European market, and Russian oil is now also coming to other regions, where discounts are lower than in the Baltic.

On Wednesday, the Federation Council, upper house of the Russian parliament, approved amendments to the law "On Customs Tariff", which will allow the Finance Ministry to limit the size of the Urals discount to Brent when calculating the export duty. According to the document, when calculating export customs duties on oil, not only the average price of Urals in the world markets (Mediterranean and Rotterdam), but also the North Sea Dated on the North Sea market should be taken into account. It is proposed to monitor the North Sea Dated price from April 15th. North Sea Dated is a quotation of the Argus pricing agency based on the price of five North Sea oil grades, including Brent.

Now the Urals discount to Brent (North Sea Dated) can be limited if it exceeds the indicative value (a fixed level set for a certain period of time). From April 15 to May 14, 2023 inclusive, it is $204.4 per ton (about $28 per barrel), from May 15 to June 14, 2023 - $182.5 per ton (about $25 per barrel). If the difference between North Sea Dated, which, as a rule, corresponds to the cost of Brent, and Urals exceeds the indicative value, then the discount is taken as equal to this indicative level. Thus, the maximum possible discount level is fixed.

Earlier, Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Sazanov said that the effect for the federal budget from limiting the Urals discount to Brent when calculating the export duty on oil would be insignificant, especially compared to the effect of a similar measure on the mineral extraction tax (MET).

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