Direct Urals supplies from Russia's ports to China in the first 10 days of February rose to some 360,000 bpd, according to provisional data provided by market sources and Reuters calculations. Rising appetite for Urals in China in February, along with Russia's plan to trim oil output by 500,000 bpd from March, may limit the grade's discount to global benchmarks, market sources added.
Russia's monthly budget revenues from oil and gas fell in January to their lowest level since August 2020, reflecting the impact of Western sanctions on its most lucrative export, Finance Ministry data showed. Urals crude has been sold at deeper discounts following a European ban on Russian oil imports since Dec. 5, 2022. Crude refiners from dominant buyer India were securing a discount of between $15 and $20 per barrel on Russian oil on a delivered basis compared with Brent in January, down from minus $12-$15 per barrel in December, minus $10-$11 in November and minus $5-$8 per barrel in October. (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Jason Neely and David Holmes)