Saudi Arabia increases efforts to send Russia’s Urals oil grade out of its markets as it offers its own cheap barrels, as the two countries’ deal to support global oil prices fell apart.
According to Reuters, the collaboration between Russia and Saudi Arabia collapsed last week, as Russia refused to support deeper oil output cuts desired by Saudi Arabia, in order to tackle falling oil demand due to the coronavirus.
Now, Saudi Aramco wants to replace Urals in refiners’ feedstock globally. What is more, Bahri provisionally chartered up to 19 supertankers this week. Six of them will take about 12 million barrels of Saudi crude to the United States. Moreover, Saudi Aramco is in talks with European refiners as well.
This move seems to be paying off, as refiners order extra volumes of its crude for loading in April at “very attractive prices”.
Commenting on this development, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak stated that Saudi plans to increase output were“not the best option”.