Russian ESPO flips to Brent premium as Asia scrambles for supply

In India, ESPO Blend was sold at around $5 per barrel above dated Brent, two sources said, matching the price for Urals despite ESPO's superior quality.

"If there is no feedstock, the quality doesn't really matter," one of the sources said.

Exports of ESPO Blend from Kozmino in March were close to 1 million barrels per day, nearly matching February volumes and the port's capacity, according to one source.

(Reporting by Reuters in Moscow, Siyi Liu and Chen Aizhu in Singapore, Nidhi Verma in New Delhi, Editing by Louise Heavens)