Oil edges higher ahead of long weekend on Russian supply woes | Reuters
Oil prices edged higher on Thursday in thin trade ahead of a long weekend as traders weighed news of a possible European ban on Russian oil imports against a larger-than-expected build in U.S. oil stocks and falling refining activity in China.
Brent futures were up 42 cents, or 0.4%, at $109.17 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were 23 cents or 0.22% higher at $104.39 a barrel at 1223 ET or 1622 GMT.
While the European Union has not imposed a ban on imports of Russian oil in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the New York Times reported that EU officials were drafting an embargo on Russian oil products.
That comes as Chinese refiners are set to cut crude throughput this month by about 6% - a scale last seen in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago - to ease bulging fuel inventories as recent COVID lockdowns undercut consumption, industry sources and analysts said.
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