Traders said that the price of Russian Urals crude is stable in Indian ports. The market's attention has shifted to cargoes due to load next month, amid an anticipated limited lifting plan for Russia’s western ports.

In Indian ports, urals oil cargoes that loaded in early August were sold at a discount of $3.50 to $3.50 a barrel compared to Brent dated on DES basis, which is the same as June and July cargoes.

According to industry sources, Russia will limit its exports in August due to the high demand for motor fuels at home.

One trader who deals with Russian crude said that the low freight rates to India (from Russia's Baltic Sea and Black Sea ports), may be due to the fact that there is a sufficient amount of tonnage despite small lifting schedules.

The total offline primary oil refinery capacity of Russia in August will drop to 1,543 million tonnes, from 1.792 millions tonnes in July. This is the lowest level since 2024.

The freight rates for shipping Russian oil fell this month to parity with other global exporters, for the first since 2022. This is because more tankers were available despite Western sanction and a fall in exports. Reporting by Nidhi Verma and in Moscow; editing by Mark Potter