Russian Urals oil traded on January 6 at a price lower than $38 per barrel.

This is much lower than the price ceiling for Russian oil introduced by the European Union and the countries of the "Group of Seven" with the aim of reducing Russia's ability to finance the war with Ukraine.

This is reported by Bloomberg with reference to the data of the independent price agency Argus.

According to Argus, Urals oil was sold for $37.80 per barrel at the port of Primorsk.

At the same time, on the same day, the world standard Brent was worth more than 78 dollars per barrel.

As Bloomberg notes, Western sanctions have led to an increase in Russia's dependence on China and India.

These two countries, as well as Turkey, are today the only major buyers of Russian oil.

In the current situation, Moscow is forced to sell its oil at reduced prices in order to compete with supplies from the Middle East, the agency writes.

Bloomberg also reports that volumes of oil going to China, India and Turkey fell to their lowest levels in 10 weeks.

The reduction of supplies to Turkey has become "especially dramatic", the agency notes.

Thus, according to vessel tracking data, the volume of imports from Russia, which increased to almost 400,000 barrels per day in September, fell to 21,000 barrels per day over the past four weeks.

This is lower than it was at the beginning of hostilities in Ukraine, notes Bloomberg.

On December 5, an embargo on sea deliveries of Russian oil to the countries of the European Union entered into force, as well as a price ceiling of $60 per barrel for oil from Russia transported by sea.

It was agreed by the European Union, the countries of the "Group of Seven" and Australia.

In the first week of the price ceiling and the ban on the delivery of Russian oil by sea, exports from Russia decreased by 54%.

In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin banned the supply of Russian oil and oil products to countries that use the price ceiling.