European gas prices were trading higher early May 12, with the TTF month-ahead price up at Eur105/MWh ($109.72/MWh) as of 0815 GMT, according to ICE data.

Germany, Russia's top client in Europe, said some subsidiaries of Gazprom Germania were receiving no gas because of the sanctions.

The monthly import profile for April, which following European wholesale front-month trade in March, saw sourcing from all parts of the world intensify, with Europe comfortably receiving its highest-ever volume for a single month. This was, however, paid for at a high price.

Brent down $2.26, or 2.1%, to $105.25 a barrel, WTI fell $2.45, or 2.3%, to $103.26 a barrel.

Moscow has imposed sanctions on the owner of the Polish part of the Yamal pipeline that carries Russian gas to Europe, as well as Gazprom's former German unit, whose subsidiaries help meet Europe's gas consumption.

Requests via the Velke Kapusany border point in Slovakia were around 512,056 megawatt hours (MWh) per day, down from 856,922 MWh per day earlier on Thursday, data from Slovakian operator TSO Eustream showed.

"We will cooperate to reduce Europe's dependency on energy supplies from Russia and to ensure diversification of energy supply sources, and acknowledge the need for investments to achieve this."

Brent was up $2.35, or 2.41%, to $104.84 a barrel, WTI climbed $2.2, or 2.24%, to $101.97 a barrel.

Thus, after the slump in March inflows, Russian crude imports by China's independent refiners recovered 35.7% year on year to 2 million mt in April

There have been ongoing talks on the Russian Oil ban by the EU with more developments as the week progresses.