Hi,
Yes, it was first reported back by Reuters in June 2022, and was partially attributed to lack of production from higher sulfur content fields.
"Urals oil loading from Primorsk port is sweeter with the sulphur content falling to 1.59% for cargoes loading in May-June on average, while in January the content from the cargoes was at %1.64 on average, according to the sources’ data. The crude was also slightly lighter with an average gravity of 30.1 degrees API in May from 29.8 degrees in January.
API gravity is a commonly used scale for measuring the density of crude oil. Higher numbers correspond to lighter crude.
Urals oil volumes loading from Ust-Luga and supplied to Europe via the Druzhba pipeline have also seen sulphur content slip to %1.66 on average in May-June from above %1.7 in January this year. Gravity rose slightly, from 30.3 degrees API to 30.6, according to the data.
Urals oil exported from Black Sea Novorossiisk was also sweeter in May-June compared to January, according to the data. Sulphur content in these barrels fell to 1.42% from 1.55% early in the year. The crude was also lighter: gravity rose to 30.65 degrees API in June from 29.5 in January.
Possible quality change also could come from curbs to oil production on certain fields, which provide lower quality crude, two other traders said.
“We saw a decline of output in Bashkortostan and Tatarstan regions that produce high-sulphur heavy oils in April-May, which could help the quality”, one of the traders said."
Russia has been improving the quality of its flagship Urals crude oil export, making the heavily-discounted grade even more attractive to buyers in Asia who have been snapping it up, data obtained by two industry sources and seen by Reuters showed.
www.reuters.com
For people not updated on Oil & Gas industry, it might be a surprise, but for Pakistan's Petroleum Ministry & the Government, that spent all its energies, first trying to prove, in vain, that Pakistan Refiners can't technically refine Russian crude, then hiding behind US & EU sanction's mantra, it's criminal negligence (to say the least), for which the common Pakistani paid exuberant higher cost for petroleum products and power, crippling Pakistan's fragile economic infrastructure. They are still explicitly importing Crude Oil & have not negotiated a discounted deal for Russian refined petroleum products (Gasoline, Diesel, LPG e.t.c) which should have given masses instant relief, but would have negatively impacted business interests of some quarters involved in smuggling products from our Western neighbor.
For March 2023, following Urals quality was accessed by Platts.
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