Discount on Russian oil grew in January mainly due to the rise in freight prices, Russian Tass News Agency quoted Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak as saying on Wednesday.
'I hope that this situation will be temporary. The discount should decrease over time, as we observed during 2022, when in March-April, the discount grew strongly, and then began to gradually fall and halved,' Novak said at a meeting which also saw the attendance of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
'Now the main risk is, in my opinion, the discount. The second is the embargo on the supply of petroleum products and the price ceiling being introduced. We will respond, we will report, take all necessary measures to ensure supplies to new markets, logistics, transportation,' he said.
Russian Energy Ministry earlier said it would adopt additional measures to limit a possible discount on Russian oil to limits based on market prices, including monitoring oil prices and the size of the discounts.
Following the Russia-Ukraine War, Western nations imposed severe restrictions on Russia's energy industry.
On Dec. 5, EU agreed to stop buying Russia's seaborne oil and set a cap price of $60 per barrel for the country's crude oil exports.
Russia, however, announced that it would stop shipping oil to countries imposing price cap and would instead direct its exports to Asian markets, particularly China and India with huge discounts.
By Sibel Morrow
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr