Russia to boost April oil exports as wrestles Saudi for market share

• The plans to increase production and boost overseas supplies follow the collapse early this month of a supply-cut pact between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
• The schedule, seen on Wednesday, showed the loadings of Russia's Urals blend are set to rise to 6.7 million tonnes in April from 6.2 million tonnes in March.

MOSCOW: Russia is set to boost oil exports next month, with supplies of its flagship Urals crude oil blend from the Baltic ports seen rising by 12pc, following Saudi Arabia's plans to flood the market, a preliminary schedule seen by Reuters showed.

Following the publication of Russia's plans to crank up its supplies, global oil prices turned negative. Brent front-month futures hit session lows of around $26.3 per barrel.

The plans to increase production and boost overseas supplies follow the collapse early this month of a supply-cut pact between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, and other producers led by Russia, known as OPEC+.

Oil prices have lost half their value in less than two weeks because of the impact of the coronavirus on demand and the increase in supply driven by a battle for market share between Saudi Arabia and Russia.

The schedule, seen on Wednesday, showed the loadings of Russia's Urals blend are set to rise to 6.7 million tonnes in April from 6.2 million tonnes in March.

On a daily basis Urals loadings from the Baltic port of Primorsk and Ust-Luga will rise by 12pc month on month, Reuters calculations showed.

Urals and Siberian Light loadings from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk in April are set at 2.56 million tonnes, up from 2.2 million in March, the document showed on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia plans to ship more than 10 million barrels per day (bpd) from May.