The world's fourth-biggest crude importer received 10.565 million mt, or 77.44 million barrels, of crude oil in February, compared with 74.97 million barrels imported a year earlier, marking a fifth consecutive month of year-on-year increase,

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories increased by 4.3 million barrels from the previous week to 415.9 million barrels.

Brent gained $6.41, or 6.5%, to $104.43 a barrel, WTI was up $5.95, or 6.3%, to $100.99 a barrel.

The price for WTI, the U.S. benchmark, will average $113/b in March and $112/b for the second quarter of 2022.

Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a strategic partnership council. Earlier, Johnson met the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nayhan, in Abu Dhabi.

Brent were last up $2.64, or 2.6%, at $102.55 a barrel, WTI rose $1.91, or 2%, to stand at $98.35 a barrel.

The 2022 forecast for global oil demand growth remains under assessment at 4.2 mb/d, with OECD forecast at 1.9 mb/d and non-OECD at 2.3 mb/d.

But getting Saudi Arabia and the UAE to agree to pump more crude would require them to break a more-than-five-year partnership with Russia that has forged strong ties beyond oil — an uncertain prospect as they increasingly look eastward for political allies.

Brent were down $8.90, or 8.3%, to $98 a barrel, WTI was down $8.97, or 8.7%, to $94.04 a barrel.

In 2021, Russia was the largest natural gas-exporting country in the world, the second-largest crude oil and condensates-exporting country after Saudi Arabia, and the third-largest coal-exporting country behind Indonesia and Australia.