Sanctions on Russian banks and oligarchs have not halted Russian oil exports, with Indian refiners scooping up highly discounted Urals crude at a record pace, but Western buyers are hitting roadblocks with payments, shipping and banking guarantees, even though sanctions aren’t targeting the energy specifically. On Thursday, Russian Urals crude was going for $11.60 per barrel below Dated Brent, representing the biggest discount in over a decade, based on Bloomberg data . Reuters reports that while Russia has maintained its crude oil and refined product exports, sanctions on Russia’s banking industry that will make it nearly impossible for Russian oil companies to process payments have traders running scared because sellers may not be paid.Additional fears have arisen about how the market will interpret those sanctions. “Letter of credit is a bank guarantee, but now it’s quite useless as after sanctions, no Western bank wants to guarantee anything for Russian […]