Argus: Premium of Urals oil price to Brent slides to $0.3 Jul 15–16

MOSCOW, Jul 20 (PRIME) -- The premium of Russia's Urals oil blend price to Brent fell to U.S. $0.3 per barrel on July 15–16 from a record of $2.45 as of the end of June, agency Argus said in a statement on Monday.

"As interest to Urals is low, the blend has become cheaper. The Urals premium to the benchmark (Brent) was $0.3 per barrel as of July 15–16, which can restore demand for the raw material, including from the refineries in the Baltic region," Argus said.

Urals is the main blend imported oil by Poland, Finland and Lithuania but these countries are cutting the purchases due to a low profitability of refining.

They prefer to buy raw materials from the deposits of the Caspian and Norway Seas instead of Urals, Argus said quoting ship agents.

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