MOSCOW, March 20 (Reuters) - Crude oil exports and
transit of Urals, KEBCO and Siberian Light oil grades from
Russia's western ports are expected to rise 9% in March from
February, data from trade sources and Reuters calculations
showed.
Russia's oil exports from its western ports, excluding
Kazakhstan-sourced oil in transit, will increase by 4% on a
daily basis, despite the announced plans to reduce oil
production in March by 500,000 barrels per day.
The initial plan assumed a 10% drop in oil shipments from
Russian ports in March from February.
The increase in Russian oil loadings from western ports is
mostly due to delays in February loadings from Novorossiisk port
amid storms, the sources said. The delays forced the port to
postpone nearly 1 million tonnes of February oil for loading in
March. Thus the expected volume of exports from Novorossiisk in
March is 3.2 million tonnes.
As a result the total volume of Russian oil exports may
reach about 9.6 million tonnes this month, up from 8.0 million
tonnes loaded in February.
All the loading positions from the March programme were
filled with resources and the vessels were fixed for the
loadings, traders said, adding that the monthly plan should be
completed in full.
The main buyers of sea-borne Urals cargoes, India and China,
retained their positions in March, but sellers have new regular
routes, Reuters monitoring showed.
In March, 140,000 tonnes of Urals oil sourced by Gazpromneft
was shipped from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk to Myanmar.
Russneft , as in February, shipped 80,000 tonnes of
Siberian Light oil from Novorossiisk to Sri Lanka, according to
data in the Eikon terminal.
India remained the biggest buyer of the Russian grade in
March and deliveries to India will account for more than 50% of
all Urals sea exports this month, while China remains in second
place. Deliveries to India and China are carried out both
directly or through STS (ship-to-ship) facilities near Greece,
Spain and Morocco.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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