Russian oil price at Western port creeps closer to sanctions cap

The price of Russian oil at one of its Western ports is the closest to the price cap set by Group of Seven nations since the measures came into effect late last year. 

Urals crude at the port of Novorossiysk in the Black Sea was $57.70 a barrel on Friday, according to data from Argus Media Ltd. The last time it traded above that level was in November last year, before the G-7 implemented its $60 ceiling on Russia’s crude exports. Argus’s figures are central to the price cap. 

Since the sanctions came into effect, oil from Russia’s east has largely traded above the price cap — which prevents access to Western services including insurance — but prices in the West have yet to hit that level, Argus data show. That in part reflects a huge gap between the price at the ports of loading and delivery, almost all of which goes to middlemen.