Urals crude differentials held steady on Thursday as market participants switched focus to new Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia by the United States and the European Union.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday imposed sanctions on Russia for the first time in his second term, targeting oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft.
EU countries have approved a 19th package of sanctions against Russia that includes a ban on imports of Russian LNG. The new package also lists 117 more vessels from Moscow's shadow fleet, mostly tankers, bringing the total to 558.
Indian refiners are poised to sharply curtail imports of Russian oil to comply with new US sanctions on two top Russian producers, industry sources said on Thursday, potentially removing a major hurdle to a trade deal with the United States.
Chinese state oil majors have suspended purchases of seaborne Russian oil after the fresh US sanctions, multiple trade sources said.
No bids or offers were reported in the Platts window for Urals, Azeri BTC or CPC Blend crude.
Oil prices rose nearly five per cent on Thursday, extending gains from the previous session.
Kyiv's forces struck Russia's Ryazan oil refinery overnight, Ukraine's general staff said on Thursday.
The European Union has added two Chinese refiners with combined capacity of 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) as well as Chinaoil Hong Kong, a trading arm of PetroChina, to its Russia sanctions list, its Official Journal showed on Thursday.
(Reporting by Reuters)
