The price of the Brent reference brand was stabilized in world markets at 80 dollars. But Russian oil is more than twice cheaper. This is much lower than the maximum price ceiling established by the European Union and the countries of the “big eight”. Such a sharp drop in price is due to the fact that the effectiveness of the sanctions imposed by the West finally begins to affect.
As you know, the European Union introduced the embargo to marine transportation of Russian oil. As a result, tankers either refuse to transport it or do it secretly, exposing themselves to serious risk.
After the embargo introduction, Russia was dependent on India and China, which are currently the largest buyers of Russian oil. In addition, Moscow is forced to sell it at a price much lower than the market. Supply volumes are also reduced in parallel, since China and India have already filled their storage facilities and do not need their previous volumes.
, as you know, from December 5, 2022, the European Union embargo for Russian oil transported by tankers entered into force, the maximum price of $ 60 per barrel, agreed between the G7, the EU and Australia, was also set. As a result, only in the first week of action taken by the collective West, the export of Russian oil by the sea was reduced by 54 percent.
According to Bloomberg, the price of Russian oil of the Urals brand began to drop sharply in the first days of January. On January 6, the Urals barrel was sold cheaper than $ 38, while Brent offered $ 78 for oil. Recall that earlier the difference in the price between these two brands was only 3-5 dollars.
Turkey, which, after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, sharply increased oil imports from Russia, recently began to reduce it. The agency reports that the story of the supply of Russian oil to Turkey generally accepts a dramatic turnover. According to agencies tracking the movement of vessels, Russian oil exports to Turkey has declined to 21 thousand barrels per day in recent weeks. Whereas in September last year, this indicator was 400 thousand barrels per day, that is, there was almost 20 times more. Bloomberg notes that today Turkey purchases even less oil from Russia than before the war in Ukraine.