/Reuters Agency
Shipping rates for Urals crude shipments from Russia’s western ports to India rose further in late September and early October, following a sharp increase in freight charges last month, according to industry sources.
Indian refineries continue to buy Russian oil despite punitive tariffs imposed by the United States on products imported from India, after the country defied the demand to stop Russian imports.
Crude exports from Russia’s western ports—Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiisk—rose in September by 500,000 barrels per day compared to August, reaching a record 2.5 million barrels per day, driven by unscheduled refinery maintenance.
The shipping costs for Urals crude from the Baltic ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga to India for late October cargoes have risen to around $7 million for Aframax vessels, up from the $6–6.5 million per one-way trip recorded between late August and mid-September, the sources said.
Rates for similar shipments from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk on Suezmax vessels, which carry around 140,000 metric tons, increased to approximately $6.2–6.5 million, compared to around $6 million a month ago.
Sources told Reuters that currently both vessels from the “shadow fleet” and Greek shipowners are participating in the transport of Urals from Russian ports. “The Greeks who were working are still working. No one has left the market,” a trader commented.
The Group of Seven (G7) Finance Ministers announced on October 1 that they would take joint action to increase pressure on Russia, targeting those who continue to increase their purchases of Russian oil and those who facilitate its evasion.
In early October, France detained the tanker Boracay, loaded with 100,000 tons of Urals crude purchased by the Russian state-owned company Rosneft from the port of Primorsk and bound for the Port of Vadinar in India.
France’s detention of a vessel suspected of operating for Russia’s “shadow fleet” is part of a new European strategy to block revenues funding Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine, President Emmanuel Macron said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the French boarding of the vessel, calling the operation an act of piracy.
