Russia Benefits from Their Oil Soaring to 13-Year High, but Ukraine Hits Strategic Facilities

Russian crude prices have surged to their highest level in more than 13 years, allowing Moscow to reap massive financial benefits from the global oil rally triggered by the ongoing war in Iran, Bloomberg reported on April 7.

Data from Argus Media indicates that Russia’s flagship Urals crude reached $116.05 a barrel on April 2 at the port of Primorsk, the nation’s largest oil-export facility located on the Baltic coast. This price, excluding shipping costs, is nearly double the $59-per-barrel average Russia assumed in this year’s budget.

The Middle East conflict has effectively choked off roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supplies by paralyzing transit through the Strait of Hormuz. As global markets panic over US President Donald Trump’s looming 8 p.m. ET April 7 deadline to destroy Iranian infrastructure unless the waterway is unblocked, the Kremlin is enjoying windfall oil revenues that significantly ease financial pressure on its war effort against Ukraine.

The price surge is widespread across Russia’s export nodes. In the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, Urals crude hit $114.45 a barrel last April 2. Furthermore, the average discount of Urals from Russia’s western ports compared to the global Dated Brent benchmark has narrowed to under $27.75 a barrel, the lowest gap seen since mid-December, according to Bloomberg.

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By the time Urals crude reaches massive buyers like India, it is actually trading at a premium to Brent, widening to $6.1 a barrel compared to just $3.9 two weeks ago.

The massive surge in Russian oil revenues contextualizes why Ukraine has drastically escalated its deep-strike drone campaign against Moscow’s energy infrastructure. With the Kremlin poised to profit immensely from the Middle East crisis and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Kyiv is systematically targeting the exact facilities required to export that overpriced crude.

Recent Ukrainian drone strikes have directly hit critical fuel infrastructure at the Primorsk port—the very location where Urals crude just hit a 13-year high—as well as major inland refineries. By physically disrupting the loading and refining capabilities on the Baltic coast and beyond, Ukraine aims to choke off the flow of oil, neutralizing the windfall profits that fund the ongoing invasion regardless of how high global prices spike.

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