Med crude-Urals diffs down on firmer freight rates on key routes to Asia

MOSCOW, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Urals crude differentials to dated Brent eased on Thursday on firmer freight rates for parcels of the grade from Russia's western ports to Asia, market sources said and Reuters calculations showed.

Freight rates to ship 100,000-tonne cargoes of Urals from Primorsk and Ust-Luga to India rose by some 20% in February to $7-$8 million per voyage amid U.S. sanctions and rising exports that required more vessels.

India, the No. 2 importer of crude from Russia, wants to buy Russian oil only if it is supplied by companies and ships that have not been sanctioned by the United States, the country's oil secretary said.

PLATTS WINDOW

• No bids or offers were shown for Urals, Azeri BTC and CPC Blend in the Platts window on Thursday.

NEWS

• Russia's oil exports could be sustained if it finds workarounds to the latest U.S. sanctions package, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday, as it forecast that growth in global oil supply would outpace demand this year.

• Russia's Ryazan oil refinery partially resumed oil processing and loading of motor fuels to railway tanks on February 11 after staying idle for 18 days.

• A handful of newer Chinese terminals recently began receiving oil tankers sanctioned by the U.S., according to five sources and shipping data, providing logistics relief after a major port operator unexpectedly banned such deliveries last month.