Crude Oil — Urals Under Pressure as Storm Clouds Gather

摘要

Urals prices are under pressure from the falling benchmark Brent, worsening discounts in Northwest Europe and deteriorating refinery margins. High volumes of available alternatives are pointing to further pressure for Urals, as well as other regional grades. More is to come. Players are bracing for severe headwinds in 2015. The biggest blow to Urals is the rapidly deteriorating outright price for dated Brent, the European and global benchmark against which Urals is priced. At the start of the trading week the prompt Brent contract on ICE Futures lost $4 in just two days, to fall below $83.