Brent climbed $1.05 or 1.%, to $102.12 a barrel, WTI rose 86 cents, or 0.9%, to $97.09 a barrel.

Fuel oil represented the bulk of the exports to China, with 394,200 mt exported, 43.6% higher on the month. Diesel exports recorded similar growth of 39.5% to 343,100 mt. Bitumen and residue amounted to 18,700 mt, marking a 34.9% increase on February. Overall, 756,900 mt of oil products headed to China last month.

Hungary will pay for shipments in roubles if Russia asks it to, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told a news conference on Wednesday in reply to a Reuters question.

First Light Fusion (First Light), the University of Oxford fusion spin-out, today confirms it has achieved fusion. The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has independently validated the result.

Xe-100 developer X-energy announced on 4 April that its wholly-owned subsidiary, TRISO-X LLC, has selected the Horizon Center Industrial Park in Oak Ridge to site the plant, which will initially produce 8 tonnes of fuel per year - enough to support about twelve Xe-100 small modular reactors.

The Ministry of Energy and Environment plans to double lignite production and to review its phase-out plan for lignite-fired power plants.

Brent were up 49 cents, or 0.5%, at $107.13 a barrel , WTI climbed 21 cents, or 0.2%, to $102.17 a barrel.

The new round includes an import ban on coal from Russia worth Eur4 billion/year ($4.38 billion/year) and a ban on Russian vessels and Russian-operated vessels from accessing EU ports, allowing for certain exemptions such as agricultural and food products, humanitarian aid as well as energy.

Gazprom said the request for gas exports to Europe through Ukraine had been set at 108.3 million cubic metres for April 6, similar to the request for April 5.

Norwegian deliveries totaled 9.94 Bcm in March -- or an average of 321 million cu m/d. The total volume is higher than in February, but lower on a daily average basis given February is a shorter month.