Silicon Bites Ep276 | 2025-12-19 | Tonight, a single number with regime-shaking implications: Urals crude at roughly thirty-five dollars a barrel -- miles below global benchmarks, and catastrophically below what the Kremlin needs to fund its war-state on schedule. This is Russia's flagship export grade trading like a sanctioned pariah -- because it is. Let's break it into three parts: what's happening, why it's happening, and why Putin's war finances are now on the clock.
According to Argus Media price assessments cited by RBC and reported by The Moscow Times, Urals shipped from Novorossiysk fell to $34.52 per barrel as of December 16, with Primorsk around $36.07. Same oil, different port -- same story: distress rate pricing. (The Moscow Times)