In the worst-case scenario where the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany is shut totally, Europe will fail to reach storage levels the European Union has ordered by the start of the heating season in November. And the region could run out of stocks completely by January.

Eni SpA will receive just half of its requested gas volumes from Russia’s Gazprom PJSC on Friday, compared with about two-thirds the previous day.

Asian buyers will also be competing directly with European LNG importers looking to meet an EU target of filling gas storage to 80% of capacity by Nov. 1.

The surge in electricity supply did little to ease rising prices that are being driven higher by climbing gas costs as Russia cuts some flows to Europe.

Brent were down 45 cents, or 0.4%, to $118.06 a barrel , WTI fell 44 cents to $114.87, also off 0.4%.

"We see that we have a fairly significant increase in June compared to May, up around 600,000 b/d," Novak said on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum,

Compared to pre-war levels in January and February, Russia's shipped crude exports from June 1-15 rose by 576,000 b/d to average about 3.88 million b/d,

European nations have for months feared Russian supply cuts in retaliation for sanctions aimed at Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories increased by 2.0 million barrels to 418.7 million barrels.

Brent were down $1.27, or 1%, at $119.90 a barrel, WTI fell $1.44, or 1.2%, to $117.49 a barrel.

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $123.73 a barrel

For 2022, world oil demand growth is broadly unchanged to stand at 3.4 mb/d.

The decline in overall export volumes is mainly due to lower oil-product flows, while Russian crude shipped in May grew nearly by 500,000 barrels a day compared to the start of the year, mainly thanks to higher deliveries to Asia.

Asian LNG futures for winter delivery surged to the highest level in over two months.

U.S. natural gas prices to remain relatively high in 2022 because of lower-than-average natural gas inventories resulting from factors affecting both supply and demand.