Argus to assess price of Russian Urals crude in China

London 3 June 2024

Global energy and commodity price reporting agency Argus is launching today new prices for Russian Urals crude delivered into China, bringing further transparency to Russia’s opaque export market.

Russian Urals exports have remained resilient despite G7 sanctions, which have changed the pattern of global crude flows, diverting Russian material from Europe to India and China. Most Urals goes to India, but about 200,000 b/d heads to China, more than three times the typical 60,000 b/d in the years before 2022.

Urals has become an attractive low-cost alternative to Mideast Gulf sour crude grades for many Chinese firms. Urals competes in China with Arab Light and Iranian Light.

Argus will be publishing daily assessments of Urals on a delivered-at-place (dap) Shandong basis. Shandong is the largest single destination for Urals delivered to China, receiving around 40pc of the national total, at very similar price levels to nearby ports in Liaoning and Tianjin which account for a further 20pc of receipts. Argus assesses a range of other grades delivered into China on a Shandong basis, including Brazilian Tupi, Russian ESPO Blend, Norway’s Johan Sverdrup and Djeno crude from Congo (Brazzaville).

The new Urals assessment will complement Argus’ existing price for Russian ESPO Blend, where market liquidity has shifted from trading on a loading-price basis at the port of Kozmino to the use of delivered prices for ports around Shandong.

Argus Media chairman and chief executive Adrian Binks said: “Our new crude prices for Russian Urals delivered to China will provide market participants with important transparency into this opaque market. Since the Russian crude price cap came into effect in December 2022, flows of Urals have changed significantly and the new patterns are now well established. Our new prices provide a reliable assessment of market value.”

About Argus Media

Argus is the leading independent provider of market intelligence to the global energy and commodity markets. We offer essential price assessments, news, analytics, consulting services, data science tools and industry conferences to illuminate complex and opaque commodity markets.

Headquartered in London with over 1,400 staff, Argus is an independent media organisation with 30 offices in the world’s principal commodity trading hubs.

Companies, trading firms and governments in 160 countries around the world trust Argus data to make decisions, analyse situations, manage risk, facilitate trading and for long-term planning. Argus prices are used as trusted benchmarks around the world for pricing transportation, commodities and energy.

Founded in 1970, Argus remains a privately held UK-registered company owned by employee shareholders and global growth equity firm General Atlantic.

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