off-the-wire

Russian Urals oil supplies for STS in Europe fell in March -traders, data

Kitco Media
By Reuters
Published:
Updated:
Reuters
MOSCOW, April 3 (Reuters) - Russian Urals crude oil supplies to ship-to-ship (STS) facilities off European coasts fell in March in the face of rising concern from European authorities and as winter ice receded from Baltic ports, traders said and Refinitiv Eikon data showed. Urals oil supplies to one of the main places for STS operations with Russian crude and products in recent months, close to Greece's Kalamata, fell to only 0.3 million tonnes in March from about 1 million tonnes a month on average in January and February, Refinitiv data showed.


Urals supplies to another popular STS point, Spain's Ceuta enclave on the north coast of Africa, amounted to a single 100,000-tonne cargo in March, the data shows, compared with a monthly average of 0.5 million tonnes for January-February. The Spanish government has tightened its rules on STS oil transfers after increased activity along its coastline. Traders also said that, in addition to possible issues with EU authorities, shippers have reduced STS operations because they no longer need to use expensive ice-class vessels in the Baltics. One trader in the Russian oil market said that more STS points could appear outside Europe in the coming months. Urals oil supplies to India remained high in March, with country buying nearly 70% of the monthly loading plan. China remained in the second place with 8% and Turkey third with 7%, according to Refinitiv Eikon data and Reuters calculations. The fourth-biggest buyer was Bulgaria with 5%. Bulgaria is the only European country allowed to buy seaborne Russian oil after an EU embargo. In March two 80,000-tonne cargoes of Siberian Light oil loading from Novorossiisk were shipped to Sri Lanka.


One 140,000-tonne cargo of March Urals oil was loaded from Novorossiisk for delivery to Myanmar and one 100,000-tonne cargo was loaded from Ust-Luga for delivery to the United Arab Emirates, the data shows.
(Reporting by Reuters Editing by David Goodman)

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