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(Adds detail on discount)
MOSCOW, April 3 (Reuters) - Russia's finance ministry on
Monday said the Urals price for crude oil in March was $47.85
per barrel, 1.86 times lower than $89.05 per barrel in the same
month last year and lower than in the previous month.
The European Union, G7 countries and Australia introduced a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian oil from Dec. 5, aiming to curb Russia's ability to finance the conflict in Ukraine.
The Kremlin said on Monday that it was in the interests of the world energy industry to support prices for oil and oil products, a day after Russia announced it would extend a 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) output cut until the end of the year. According to Reuters data, North Sea Brent averaged $78.43 a barrel in March, meaning Urals was sold at a discount of around $31 per barrel, or 39%, last month.
Russia is part of the OPEC+ group of producer countries which announced output cuts totalling almost 1.7 million barrels per day in a surprise move on Sunday, which the United States described as unwise. Russia's budget revenues have decreased this year, led by a 46.4% year-on-year slump in oil and gas takings in January-February, while Russian crude has been sold at discounts to China, India and Turkey.
The average Urals price in February was $49.56 per barrel.
The February discount to Brent was around $33 per barrel, or
40%.
(Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya and Alexander Marrow; Editing
by Kevin Liffey and Louise Heavens)
