Urals diffs stable, oil tankers queuing to transit Turkish straits face more delays

Urals crude differentials were steady on Tuesday, while oil tankers were waiting to transit Turkish straits after Turkish maritime authorities issued a notice last month asking for additional guarantees from insurers.

• At least 20 oil tankers queuing off Turkey to cross from Russia's Black Sea ports to the Mediterranean face more delays as operators race to adhere to new Turkish insurance rules added ahead of a G7 price cap on Russian oil.

• Russia's mechanism to ban sales of oil that are subject to a price cap imposed by Western countries should begin working before the end of the year, Russian news agencies quoted Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak as saying on Tuesday.

• Russian Urals oil shipments to India accounted for about 53% - a record-high share of total tanker Urals shipments in November, Reuters calculations showed.

PLATTS WINDOW

• No bids or offers were made for Urals, Azeri BTC or CPC Blend in the Platts window on Tuesday, traders said.

NEWS

• Russia's January-November oil and gas condensate production rose 2.2% from a year earlier to 488 million tonnes.

• Russia may reduce oil production but not by much, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak was quoted as saying by the state-run TASS news agency on Tuesday.