Brent rose 16 cents, or 0.2%, to $78.75 a barrel, WTI climbed 20 cents, or 0.3%, to $73.51.

Oil imports from Russia, negligible before Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, climbed steadily through 2022 and the first half of last year as India saw an opportunity to procure discounted barrels. Russia overtook traditional suppliers like Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

Brent climbed 37 cents, or 0.5%, to $79.07 a barrel, WTI gained 30 cents, or 0.4%, to $74.12 a barrel.

India’s refining capacity is projected to increase by 56 million tons by 2028, Junior Oil Minister Rameswar Teli said last month, without elaborating. That equates to an overall capacity boost of 22%, or 1.12 million barrels a day.

Brent rose 29 cents, or 0.4%, to $83.84 a barrel, WTI gained 34 cents, or 0.4%, to $78.35 a barrel.

CNOOC expects production to continue growing over the next two years, with plans to reach 2.25 million boe/d in 2026.

Brent dipped 14 cents, or 0.1%, to $79.41 a barrel, WTI ticked down 11 cents, or 0.2%, to $74.26 a barrel.

Naphtha and fuel oil are loaded onto Clearocean Apollon Clyde Noble tankers at the nearby Ust-Luga Oil terminal.

In the last few months of 2023, the US ramped up enforcement of the price cap and imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on entities and ships that carried Russian crude oil above the price cap.

Brent fell 9 cents, or 0.1%, to $78.47 a barrel, WTI inched up 11 cents to $73.52 a barrel.