Russian Urals crude for delivery to India in December flipped to a discount against dated Brent as high global prices and freight costs are squeezing refining margins, weighing on demand, three trading sources said.
Weaker differentials weigh on Russian oil sellers' profits already hit by extreme shipping costs and Western sanctions, eating into Russia's oil and gas revenue, though it has been supported by elevated global prices because of the Iran war.
Urals cargoes for December delivery to India were trading at a discount of $1 to $2 per barrel to dated Brent on a delivered basis, traders said.
This compared with estimated parity for December cargoes a few weeks earlier.
Trading activity has increased as market participants got November loading dates and expected some advance buying of January-delivery cargoes.
An executive at India's Bharat Petroleum Corp forecast last month that Russian crude purchases would fall in November as higher freight costs and unattractive offers made Middle Eastern grades more economical.
One of the sources said that India's Russian oil buying was also capped by high Chinese demand for Russian oil, which meant Indian refiners were unable to receive full allocations and were forced to seek alternatives.
Crude oil exports from Russia's Baltic and Black Sea ports were likely to fall in November, traders said last month, citing domestic refiners' plans to increase their output, which could additionally limit the availability of Russian oil for foreign buyers.
(Reporting by Reuters reporters and Nidhi Verma in New Delhi Editing by Tomasz Janowski)