The Urals discount to Dated Brent widened past $10 a barrel at Indian ports on Tuesday 7 July, Reuters reported, as Asian refinery demand cooled and alternative supply returned1. Urals is Russia's main export crude grade, and its discount is the sanctions barometer traders watch; a wider discount means Moscow is selling cheaper to keep barrels moving.
That $10 figure is a destination-basis number, priced delivered at an Indian port (DAP India), and it sits alongside, not against, the roughly $20 Baltic loading-basis discount at Primorsk the desk tracked last week. The single Urals discount the wires quote does not hold up. It is splitting by route as freight and shadow-fleet insurance enforcement reprice unevenly.
Indian buyers regain leverage as Gulf and Iranian barrels return to the market, while Baltic-loading cargoes stay tight to the sanctions plumbing. Fujairah product stocks rebuilding 27% to a three-month high, with heavy distillates up 38%, shows East-of-Suez refiners maximising diesel yield into the same demand pull2.
