MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/. The Urals oil discount in Russian ports dropped almost twofold against the Brent blend, according to Argus international price agency data seen by TASS.
The discount in the Baltic seaport of Primorsk stood at $40.05 per barrel for the Urals against the Brent in January 2023 under FOB terms; it declined in early June to $20-21 per barrel.
The Urals discount for the Brent in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk was $38.50 a barrel on the FOB basis and declined later to about $20.30 per barrel in early July and even to $19.55 per barrel on July 11.
Argus started valuing Urals in Russian seaports on the FOB basis because Russian export oil prices in the European ports on the CIF basis were not representative of a fair price of Urals because it stopped being delivered to Europe. The agency continues to simultaneously make Urals price calculations on the CIF basis in European ports because the Russian Finance Ministry still uses it when calculating taxes for the domestic oil industry.