Moscow — Russia’s Urals oil prices on Friday fell below the Western price cap level of $60 per barrel amid a rise in freight rates fuelled by fresh U.S. sanctions on shipowners and weaker global oil prices, two traders said and Reuters calculations showed.
The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement on Thursday said it had imposed sanctions on three United Arab Emirates-based companies and three vessels owned by them which it said were involved in exporting Russian crude oil priced above the $60 cap.
Under the terms of the cap, buyers are only able to use Western services such as shipping and insurance when Russian crude trades below $60 per barrel.
Russia’s main export grade had been trading above $60 since mid-July amid output cuts by OPEC+ producers including Saudi Arabia and Russia.
On Friday freight rates for Urals oil shipments from Russia’s Baltic ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga to India rose to $9.2-9.5 million per tanker per voyage from $8 million last week.
Brent futures rose 80 cents, or about 1%, to $78.22 a barrel at 1057 GMT, but still remain around their lowest levels since July.
Urals oil prices on a delivered ex-ship basis in Indian ports were stable at a discount of around $5 per barrel to dated Brent, traders said.
Editing by Jason Neely – Reuters
