Med crude-Urals differentials unchanged, Russia's primary idle refining capacity revised up for February

MOSCOW, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Urals crude differentials to dated Brent remained steady on Thursday, while Russia's primary oil refining capacity was revised up from the previous estimation, the data showed.

Russia's offline primary oil refining capacity in February was revised up 82% from the initial plan for this month, according to Reuters calculations based on data from industry sources.

Idle primary oil refining capacity in February is seen at 3.4 million metric tons, up from 2.3 million tons in January.

Higher idle refining capacity means refineries process less oil, allowing producers to increase crude exports.

March oil loadings from Russia's western ports will likely rise vs February, traders said, amid lower refinery runs and expected decline in flows via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline following the drone attack.

Kazakhstan has pumped record-high oil volumes despite damage on its main export route via Russia, the CPC, industry sources said on Thursday.

Oil loadings from Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiisk were resumed on Wednesday night after staying idle for two days due to a storm, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

PLATTS WINDOW

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

NEWS

• Russia has extended its gasoline export ban, with exemptions for producers, for six months starting in March, the state-run RIA news agency reported on Thursday, citing a source.

• Singapore is set to import multi-year high diesel volumes for February, according to data from two shiptrackers and trade sources, as sellers shipped cargoes to Asia's key oil storage hub amid tepid demand elsewhere.