Oil prices rose today, despite the European Union’s failure to reach a unanimous agreement to ban the import of Russian crude, a move that would have reduced global supplies.
Brent crude futures prices rose by 0.7 percent to $115.02 a barrel in European trading, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 0.6 percent to $112.53.
The rise comes as investors await US crude oil supply data, which is due to be released by the American Petroleum Institute later today.
The rise also comes at a time when reports indicate that Shanghai is looking forward to a broad lifting of restrictions, and to allow the resumption of normal life from the first of next June.
And refining rates in China, the largest oil importer in the world, fell by 11% last April compared to last year, with production capacities falling to the lowest level since March 2020 due to the outbreak of Corona.