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The True Direct Cost of Oil Sanctions on Russia’s Exports
How much are western sanctions targeting Russia’s petroleum-export machine really hurting Moscow? When it comes to exports of crude oil from the country’s western ports, try somewhere between 6% to 8% of the price of a barrel of crude. It’s a level that’s held reasonably steady for the past three months, aside from a spike in late February. Price reporting agency Argus Media Ltd. produces assessments of actual and baseline costs of shipping oil from different ports in western Russia to Asia and uses those to determine how much is directly attributable to sanctions. Multiplying those per-barrel assessments by ... (full story)