 An interesting couple of posts from Southfront.org this week gives us some insight as to whats happening in international oil markets. Demand for Russian Urals grade oil is so strong that is has been trading at a pretty steep premium to Brent Crude this month. Southfront references this report from Argus research. This means that the Russian Urals crude is trading at a premium to the European benchmark Brent. The premium is 1.55 per barrel in North-Western Europe and 2.55 in the Mediterranean. Argus names competition as the reason of Urals reaching such a high price. 