Norwegian oil firm Statoil and Russia’s Surgutneftegaz signed a term supply agreement  in a deal that aims to ship increasing volumes of Urals crude to Asian and US refiners.

Traders said the move by Surgut was logical since Urals  discount in Europe has reached an all-time low, but added that the Siberian producer had a long way to go before persuading the market that it was changing its mostly passive trading strategy.
The two firms announced the deal in a statement but would not disclose the volumes involved, the pricing and the duration of the contract for strategic reasons.
This is Statoil’s first term contract to buy and sell Russian crude, which will come from the Baltic port of Primorsk, industry sources said.
These barrels can be co-loaded onto supertankers of Norwegian crude, making long-haul journeys economic.
   Geir Heitmann, Statoil’s head of crude trading department in Stavanger said the deal would allow his company as well as Surgut to supply more overseas customers by exporting Urals in combination with Norwegian crude grades.
“We export long-haul from our terminal in Mongstad where we have the possibility of exporting multi-grade cargoes so our refinery customers can buy tailor-made combinations of various crudes,” Heitmann said.