Russia Sets Base Price for Urals Oil at $59 per Barrel for 2026
The Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation, Anton Siluanov, stated that the oil price included in Russia’s state budget for 2026 is sufficient to meet the country’s financial obligations. He made this announcement during a speech at the Exchange Forum in Moscow.
This is reported by AgroReview
Budget Rule and Urals Oil Price
According to Russia’s budget rule, the base price for Urals oil in 2026 is set at $59 per barrel. It is planned to gradually decrease this figure by one dollar each year until 2030. The budget is formed based on this base price: excess revenues are directed towards the purchase of foreign currency and gold for the National Wealth Fund (NWF), while in the case of a deficit, the government uses the NWF reserves.
“We have set the price at $59 per barrel. There have been various opinions, but I believe that there is currently no need to adjust this parameter. We can manage at this cut-off level for this year,” said Siluanov.
Siluanov also noted that the government will continue to lower the base price to minimize budget risks from volatility in energy markets.
Sanctions, Price Fluctuations, and New Supplies
Since the beginning of 2026, the average annual price for Urals oil was projected by the Russian Ministry of Economic Development to be $59 per barrel. However, the actual average price in January was $40, and in February it was $44.6 per barrel. This led to a significant shortfall in oil and gas revenues for the budget.
According to Siluanov, over the past two months, the Russian government has spent nearly 500 billion rubles from the NWF to cover the revenue deficit from oil and gas sales.
In April 2026, it became known that the U.S. sanctions against Russian oil were being reinstated after a temporary easing related to the war in Iran. Previously, the U.S. Treasury allowed the supply of Russian oil and petroleum products despite sanctions to curb rising energy prices following Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
About 20% of the world’s maritime oil is transported through this strait, and its blockade has caused fuel prices to rise. At the beginning of April, Urals prices reached their highest level in 13 years, which could provide Russia with additional revenues of over one trillion rubles in April.
Despite the fact that in March the price of Urals rose to $100 amid the war in Iran, the average remained at $77 per barrel. Meanwhile, after the lifting of U.S. sanctions, the Philippines purchased 2.5 million barrels of crude oil from Russia for the first time in five years, and South Korea, which had not bought Russian oil since 2022, imported 27,000 tons of petroleum products.