India has been buying up Russian crude oil at bargain prices. Russian oil drillers are not in a position to hold the upper hand. Hence, they are ready to sell its petroleum products at a huge discount to any buyer. Sadly, under tough Western sanctions, there are two steady buyers left: India and China.
Citing global provider of financial market data Refinitiv, Reuters reported that India accounts for almost 40% of the total exports of the Russian Urals blend. A few months ago, European countries used to be the leading buyers of Russian oil. However, Russia has lost almost all well-established European partners. For the time being, less than a quarter of the total Russian oil exports are shipped to European consumers. In the Mediterranean region, Turkey is the largest buyer of the Urals grade (15%). China purchases 5% of Urals crude oil. All in all, a total of 7.5 million tons of crude was shipped from Russian ports in November.
Remarkably, experts point out that the Russian export benchmark crude shipped from Novorossiysk and Primorsk already fell to $51.96 a barrel without any price caps and discounts. The price was 20% lower than the original price cap proposed by the EU authorities who eventually settled the limit at $60 a barrel. On top of that, Urals is now traded almost $30 lower than the Brent flagship grade. Interestingly, that price is nearly $20 lower than the $70.1 allowed for in the Russian state budget.
