Med crude-Urals diffs stable, Indian refiners eye more Russian oil supplies

MOSCOW, March 24 (Reuters) - Urals crude differentials to dated Brent were stable on Monday, while Indian refiners expected an increase of Russian oil offers.

Indian refiners will issue fewer tenders for crude oil purchases on the spot market in the coming months, company sources said on Monday, as Russian supplies bounce back from sanctions-related disruptions.

India is the largest buyer of Russian oil by sea and is importing mostly Urals oil along with some other grades.

An increase of Russian oil sales to India in coming months might also be due to rising oil exports during the seasonal maintenance period, traders said.

A fire at a drone-hit oil depot in southern Russia raged for a fifth day on Monday, the regional administration said, as firefighters tried to contain the blaze at the facility that delivers Russian crude to the Caspian pipeline.

The fire cut Russian oil deliveries to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline system, which were at about 130,000 metric tons per month, the CPC said.

PLATTS WINDOW

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

NEWS

• Russia's central bank has warned the Kremlin's policy makers the United States and OPEC have the capacity to flood the oil market and cause a repeat of the prolonged price collapse of the 1980s - which contributed to the downfall of the Soviet Union.