Economics
Putin’s Port Project to Divert Urals to Baltic: Energy Markets
This article is for subscribers only.
A Baltic Sea oil terminal opened in March by President-Elect Vladimir Putin to boost Russia’s direct access to international markets may weaken the country’s crude price in northern Europe compared with the south.
Urals crude in Northwest Europe was $1.13 a barrel less than in the Mediterranean yesterday after the start of operations at the Ust-Luga terminal, the most since July, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with a 20-cent premium at the start of March and an average discount of 6 cents in the past year.