Urals gets a benchmark
Russia wants a contract for its main export blend. Petroleum Economist talks to the head of the exchange that will offer it
A new benchmark for Russian oil has just 18 months to gain sufficient liquidity amongst international traders to help narrow the discount with Brent, according to Alexei Rybnikov, head of Russia's largest commodities exchange. The launch of a Urals futures contract is expected to go live in late November. The Kremlin has been trying to establish the benchmark for a decade, ever since President Vladimir Putin first said he was unhappy that Russia's crude was sold at such a hefty discount to North Sea Brent. For now, Urals is priced in the physical market at a discount to Brent by pricing agencies, which survey traders and refiners. The discount has halved in recent years from the $5-6-a-barre
Also in this section
18 February 2026
The global gas industry is no longer on the backfoot, hesitantly justifying the value of its product, but has greater confidence in gas remaining a core part of the global energy mix for decades
18 February 2026
With marketable supply unlikely to grow significantly and limited scope for pipeline imports, Brazil is expected to continue relying on LNG to cover supply shortfalls, Ieda Gomes, senior adviser of Brazilian thinktank FGV Energia,
tells Petroleum Economist
17 February 2026
The 25th WPC Energy Congress, taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 26–30 April 2026, will bring together leaders from the political, industrial, financial and technology sectors under the unifying theme “Pathways to an Energy Future for All”
17 February 2026
Siemens Energy has been active in the Kingdom for nearly a century, evolving over that time from a project-based foreign supplier to a locally operating multi-national company with its own domestic supply chain and workforce
