MOSCOW: Freight rates to ship Russia’s Urals crude to India have fallen further and remain at their lowest since Western countries introduced a price cap late in 2022, boosting the economics of Moscow’s oil exports, industry sources told Reuters on Monday.

Prices for Urals in India have also strengthened, keeping estimates on a FOB basis in Russian ports almost $10 above the price cap limit, Reuters calculations shows.

The Group of Seven countries (G7), including the United States, and the EU have imposed a price cap on Russian seaborne shipments of crude oil since December 2022 as part of sanctions on Moscow.

Buyers are only able to use Western services such as shipping and insurance when Russian crude trades below $60 per barrel.

According to the sources, the cost of transport to India for loading mid-September from Russia’s Baltic ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga by tankers which can hold 100,000 metric tons has dropped to approximately $4.25-$4.50 million from $4.7-$4.9 million in July-August.

The cost from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk to India for Suezmax tankers, which can hold 140,000 tons, fell to around $3.8 million for a one-way trip from $4.3-$4.5 million over the same period, the sources added.