18 December 2025
Russian oil companies are being forced to sharply increase oil discounts for customers in China to sell cargoes that Indian refineries have been refusing, Reuters reports, citing industry sources.
According to the agency’s sources, some Urals crude cargoes in Baltic ports are selling at a discount of up to $35 per barrel to Brent—a record since the war. Given current Brent prices, this translates to a price below $30 per barrel—the lowest since the pandemic.
Average discounts on Urals are $21.50 per barrel in the Baltic Sea and around $20 per barrel in the Black Sea, while the average price of Russia’s main export grade is hovering around $40 per barrel, Reuters sources say. Compared to the beginning of the year, the price of Russia’s main export grade has fallen by 40%, and its current prices are almost a third lower than budgeted for this and next year.
Following the tightening of sanctions against Rosneft and Lukoil, Greek tanker companies have begun to abandon the transportation of Russian oil, notes Vortexa analyst Delia He. While Greek-owned tankers carried every fourth barrel of exported oil in November, their share dropped to 10%. Of the 35 vessels calling at Russian ports, only 10 remain operational.
As a result, Russian oil producers could face a tanker shortage, He believes. She estimates that Russia could be short of approximately 50 Suezmax or Aframax vessels with a combined deadweight of 6.5 million tons to fulfill its oil shipment plan.
The fall in Urals prices promises further problems for the Russian budget, which has already seen a more than 20% drop in commodity revenues this year. In November, according to the Ministry of Economic Development, the average tax price of oil fell to $44.80—the lowest in five years.
In December, tax collections from oil and gas companies could fall to their lowest level since August 2020—410 billion rubles, according to Reuters calculations. Compared to December 2024, they will be down by 380 billion rubles, or 49%.
The oil discounts Russia has been providing to China since the start of the war in Ukraine have saved Chinese refineries $20 billion over the past three years, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said earlier. Russia “possesses a unique resource base” and is ready to use it to supply China, Sechin emphasized.
This price will never put money into the war coffers of the crime syndicate, it’s merely a way to move oil out of the country to prevent a backlog.
“While Greek-owned tankers carried every fourth barrel of exported oil in November, their share dropped to 10%. Of the 35 vessels calling at Russian ports, only 10 remain operational.”
While the Europeans are arguing amongst each other about what to do with the frozen mafia money, the continent is still helping mafia land in many ways, by doing business, moving sanctioned oil, with allowing countless components to enter the shithole for its missiles and drones, and so on and so forth.