Sanctions have clashed with reality

Sergey Kondratiev, Principal Director on Economic Studies of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to Kommersant FM on the discounts for Russian Urals oil on the world market.

It is likely that Western insurance companies will soon be forced to almost completely stop working with Russian oil, and not only because of sanctions, Sergey Kondratiev noted:

“In the Far East, Asian and Russian insurers have already squeezed out their competitors, and about 70% of contracts are concluded with them. This process will still grow, because Western players would like to stay, somehow maintain ties with the Russian market, but they are under pressure from their own authorities, sanctions compliance and fear of some kind of secondary fines and sanctions.

In turn, both Russian and Asian companies will gradually offer more attractive terms. Price conditions, I think, will also improve, and most importantly, they will not have requirements to comply with the price ceiling or any other restrictions. In the long term, this makes our exports less dependent on these kinds of sanctions.”