U.S. commercial crude oil inventories increased by 16.3 million barrels to 471.4 million barrels.

Brent slid $1.13, or 1.3%, to $84.45 a barrel, WTI dropped $1.31, or 1.7% to $77.75.

Nonetheless, the IEA said global oil markets will likely remain in surplus in the first half of the year amid surprisingly robust output from Russia.

Brent fell 86 cents, or 1%, to $85.53 a barrel, WTI was at $78.83 a barrel, down 89 cents, or 1.1%.

Benchmark futures are now trading just above €50, near the lowest levels since September 2021.

CNPC's talks follow a deal announced last November by China's Sinopec, in which QatarEnergy agreed to supply 4 million tonnes of LNG annually for 27 years, the longest duration LNG supply contract ever signed by Qatar.

China has imported about 2.3 million mt HSFO over December-January, about 235% higher compared to 687,000 mt during November-December, according to Kpler shipping data.

Brent rose $2.17, or 2.57%, to $86.67 a barrel, WTI were up $2.01, or 2.57%, at $80.07.

Moscow’s move deepens the 2 million barrel-a-day production cut announced late last year by OPEC+, which Russia leads along with Saudi Arabia.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories increased by 2.4 million barrels to 455.1 million barrels.

Brent rose 99 cents, or 1.2%, to $84.68 a barrel, WTI climbed 93 cents, or 1.2%, to $78.07.

India's oil imports from Russia are likely to continue to rise this year mainly because of the steeply discounted prices it is selling at, he said, and assuming there are "no further stringent actions by the Western countries targeting Russian oil."

spot price of Brent crude oil falls to an average of $82/b in 2H23 and $78/b in 2024.

Brent rose 32 cents, or 0.4%, to $80.26 a barrel, WTI climbed 22 cents, or 0.3% higher, to $73.61.

OPEC+ is a 23-country bloc of oil producing countries co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and Russia. It agreed in October to slash quotas by 2 million b/d from November until the end of 2023.