RIYADH: Oil prices rose on Friday after Chinese health officials eased some of the country's toughest COVID-19 restrictions, raising hopes of increased economic activity and demand at the world's top crude importer.
Brent crude futures rose $2.32 to $95.99 a barrel, up 1.1 per cent from the previous session but were down 2.6 per cent in the week.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose $2.49, or 2.9 percent, to $88.96 a barrel, up from the previous session's gain of 0.8 percent, but down about 4 percent from the previous week.
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According to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, India is welcome to continue to buy Russian oil as much as it wants, even at prices above the price cap mechanism imposed by the G7, as long as it can buy Western Insurance, Finance and stays away from sea services. are subject to cap.
The cap will still drive down global oil prices while curbing Russia's revenue, Yellen said in an interview with Reuters on the sidelines of a conference on deepening US-Indian economic ties.
Yellen said Russia would not be able to sell as much oil as it has now barred imports by the EU without resorting to capped prices or significant discounts from current prices.
Yellen said, when the EU stops buying Russian oil, Russia will "be very difficult to continue shipping as much oil as they have done". “They will actively seek out buyers. Additionally, a lot of consumers are dependent on Western services.
Apart from China, India is currently Russia's largest oil customer.
Yellen told Reuters that as long as India and private Indian oil companies do not use these Western services and instead find alternative services, they can "buy oil at any cost." Any method is acceptable.
Nigeria and Canada, two major producers of oil and gas, are the most recent countries to pass laws limiting emissions from the fossil fuel energy sector in an effort to tackle the dangerous greenhouse gas methane.
The announcements came as the US announced Friday that it would broaden its own regulations to require oil and gas drillers to find and fix methane leaks at every well site in the nation.
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Methane is a high-value target for immediate efforts to slow climate change because it breaks down into the atmosphere more quickly than CO2 and its warming potential is 80 times greater than that of CO2 in the first 20 years.
