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☆ Why the volatile South Caucasus is important for oil and gas supplies
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The region is criss-crossed with oil and gas pipelines, though none are in close proximity to Karabakh itself. OIL- Azerbaijan's primary route for oil exports is the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which accounts for around 80% of country's oil exports and runs via Georgia and on to the Turkish Mediterranean coast. - Azerbaijan's total oil exports in January-July 2023 were 23.1 million tons (800,000 bpd), of which 76.3% flowed through the BTC. NATURAL GAS- Azerbaijan has plans to increase natural gas exports to Europe. Azerbaijan exported 6.6 bcm of natural gas to Europe in January-July.

Persons: Deniz, Vladimir Soldatkin, Mark Trevelyan Organizations: BTC, BP, Thomson Locations: MOSCOW, Azerbaijan, Nagorno, Karabakh, South Caucasus, Armenia, Baku, Tbilisi, Ceyhan, Georgia, Turkish, Russia, Supsa, Europe, Azeri

☆ Pope Appeals for an End to the Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Sept. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: 1 min

ROME (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Wednesday called for an end to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian breakaway region in Azerbaijan that has come under attack by Azeri forces over the last 24 hours. "I once again appeal to all the parties involved and to the international community to silence their weapons and make every effort to find peaceful solutions," Francis said during his weekly audience in St Peter's Square.

Persons: Pope Francis, Francis Locations: ROME, Nagorno, Karabakh, Azerbaijan, St Peter's

☆ Nagorno-Karabakh: Azerbaijan launches operation against Armenian forces in disputed region
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Tim Lister Gianluca Mezzofiore Christian Edwards Anna Chernova Nick Paton Walsh | Tim Lister | Gianluca Mezzofiore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —Azerbaijan’s defense ministry said Tuesday it had begun an “anti-terrorist” campaign in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, as Armenian media and local authorities reported heavy bombardment of the regional capital of Stepanakert. At least five people were killed, including a child, and 80 people were injured, amid artillery, missile and drone strikes by the Azerbaijan military, according to Armenian state news. But Armenia’s foreign ministry rejected claims that the Armenian army was in Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia’s defense ministry wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, to deny Azerbaijan’s claims that Armenian forces had opened fire on Azeri combat outposts. People run as gunfire and explosions are heard in Stepanakert, in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video.

Persons: CNN —, ”, “, Armenpress, Nikol Pashinyan, Karabakh –, Pashinyan, ” Pashinyan, Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell, ” Pashinyan’s, Antony Blinken, Emmanuel Macron, Maria Zakharova, Dmitry Peskov, haven’t Organizations: CNN, Azerbaijan Army, Armenian Security Council, Foreign Ministry, Union’s, Foreign Affairs, French Foreign Ministry, UN Security, Russian Foreign Ministry, UN Security Council Locations: Nagorno, Karabakh, Stepanakert, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russian, Moscow, Republic of Azerbaijan, Artsakh, Russia

☆ Explainer: What is happening between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Armenia and Azerbaijan have already fought two wars over Karabakh in the three decades since the Soviet Union they were both members of collapsed. Nagorno-Karabakh, known as Artsakh by Armenians, is a mountainous region at the southern end of the Karabakh mountain range, within Azerbaijan. Under the Soviet Union, Nagorno-Karabakh became an autonomous region within the republic of Azerbaijan. FIRST KARABAKH WARAs the Soviet Union crumbled, the First Karabakh War (1988-1994) erupted between Armenians and their Azeri neighbours. Despite that, tensions have risen sharply this month, with Armenia and Azerbaijan accusing each other of building up troops.

Persons: Stringer, Nikol Pashinyan, Cross, Kevin Liffey Organizations: Christ, FIRST, Karabakh, REUTERS, European Union, United, International Committee, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Azerbaijan, Nagorno, Karabakh, Armenia, Soviet Union, KARABAKH, Artsakh, Stepanakert, Turkey, Israel, Russia, United States, Baku, Aghdam, Ukraine, Moscow, South Caucasus

☆ Opinion: A mountaintop enclave facing genocide. And a plan to stop it
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Opinion Lara Setrakian | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Local Armenian authorities have vied for independence from Azerbaijan for decades, leading to an ongoing political and military conflict. Since December, the Lachin Corridor, the main road into the mountaintop enclave, has been blocked by Azeri protesters and government forces, who stopped the normal flow of goods. Multiple monitoring groups say there is widespread food scarcity on the ground, with child and adult malnutrition setting in. Last Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, voicing US concern over what he called “the deteriorating humanitarian situation” facing Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians. The fastest path would be for Azerbaijan to restore movement along the Lachin Corridor, letting in aid from the ICRC.

Persons: Lara Setrakian, Luis Moreno Ocampo’s, Tom Lantos, Lara Setrakian Heidi Gutman Nagorno, Ocampo, ”, Antony Blinken, Ilham Aliyev, Blinken, Aliyev, Cross, Mary Asatryan, “, —, KAren Minasyan, shouldn’t Organizations: Applied Policy Research Institute, Twitter, CNN, Criminal Court, Rights, Soviet Union . Local, International Committee, Reuters, Court, Justice, ICRC, Stepanakert Medical, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Institute for War, Karabakh, Facebook Locations: Yerevan, Armenia, Nagorno, Karabakh, Republic of Artsakh, Azerbaijan, Soviet, Russian, Mary Asatryan Azerbaijan, Baku, Aghdam, EU, Soviet Union, Nakhichevan, Syria, Sarajevo, Darfur, Russia, Turkey, Israel

☆ Explainer-What Is Happening Between Armenia and Azerbaijan Over Nagorno-Karabakh?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Sept. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +4 min

(Reuters) - Tensions are running high again between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has been the cause of two wars between them in the past three decades. Under the Soviet Union, Nagorno-Karabakh became an autonomous region within the Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. FIRST KARABAKH WARAs the Soviet Union crumbled, what is known as the First Karabakh War (1988-1994) erupted between Armenians and their Azerbaijani neighbours. Russia, a treaty ally of Armenia but which also has good relations with Azerbaijan, stepped in to negotiate a ceasefire. The most sensitive issue is the status of the 120,000 ethnic Armenians in Karabakh, whose rights and security Armenia says must be guaranteed.

Persons: Nikol Pashinyan Organizations: Reuters, Christ, FIRST, Karabakh, European Union, Armenian Locations: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Nagorno, Karabakh, KARABAKH, Artsakh, Caucasus, Soviet Union, Soviet, Turkey, Israel, Russia, United States, Baku, Ukraine

Azerbaijan said on Saturday that Armenian forces had fired on its troops overnight, and that Azerbaijan army units took "retaliatory measures". Azerbaijan's foreign ministry called the ethnic Armenian leadership of Karabakh a "puppet separatist regime" and said the vote was illegal. Both Ukraine and Baku's traditional ally Turkey condemned the election, and expressed support for Azerbaijan's claim to Karabakh. In the capitals of both Armenia and Azerbaijan, residents told Reuters they feared a new war between the two countries. In Armenia's capital Yerevan, a local resident who gave his name as Hayk accused Azerbaijan of wanting to start another war.

Persons: Artem Mikryukov, Baku, Armenia's, Armenpress, Ilham Aliyev, Nikol Pashinyan, Antony Blinken, Yuri Kim, Pashinyan, Samvel Shahramanyan, Shahramanyan, Mansura Lahicova, Mark Trevelyan, Felix, Felix Light, Ros Russell, Peter Graff Organizations: REUTERS, International Committee, Reuters, Karabakh, U.S, U.S . State Department, Thomson Locations: Taghavard, Nagorno, Karabakh, Azerbaijan, Armenia TBILISI, Baku, Armenia, Askeran, Russian, Soviet Union, Yerevan, France, Germany, Iran, Georgia, U.S, Turkey, Russia, Moscow, Reuters Baku, Ukraine, Armenia's, Tbilisi

☆ Russia protests to Armenia as tensions rise over disputed Caucasus region
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Within hours, Armenia's foreign ministry issued a statement expressing willingness to resolve disputes with Azerbaijan over the territory, focal point of two wars in the past 30 years. Azerbaijan's foreign ministry, in a series of statements, said it was Armenia which was posing a threat to regional stability by abetting separatism in Nagorno-Karabakh. "Armenia pursues one goal: to sustain separatism in the territory of Azerbaijan through all possible ideological, political, military, financial and other means," the Azeri Foreign Ministry said. Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other on Thursday of moving troops close to their joint border. Armenia hosts a Russian military base and relies almost entirely on Russia for defence supplies.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Nikol Pashinyan, Ilham Aliyev, Kevin Liffey, William Maclean, Mark Heinrich, Ron Popeski, Richard Chang Organizations: Azeri Foreign Ministry, International Criminal Court, Collective Security, Organization, Reuters, Red, Thomson Locations: Russia, South Caucasus, Nagorno, Karabakh, Azerbaijan, Armenia, United States, Ukraine, Russian, Moscow, Soviet Union, Soviet, Caucasus

☆ How Saudi Arabia and UAE learned to stop worrying and love Turkey's Bayraktar drones
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-06 | by ( Paul Iddon | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have signed multibillion-dollar deals for Turkish drones in recent months. Azeri Ministry of DefenseSaudi Arabia previously showed interest in procuring Turkish drones and securing rights for local production. Bakir told Insider that Turkish drones have gained "global recognition" due to their "affordability, efficiency, and lethal capabilities" and documented successes over modern battlefields. "Moreover, Saudi Arabia could use such capabilities to balance Iran's drone technology in the long run," Ozeren said. Ozeren said the Saudi deal could help Baykar "monopolize" drone technology in Turkey but noted that crucial details about the agreement remain unknown.

Persons: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Baykar, Abu Dhabi's, Loong, Loongs, Abu Dhabi, Abu, Ali Bakir, Erdogan, Mohammed bin Salman, Murat Kula, Bakir, Suleyman Ozeren, It's, Ozeren, Ali Atmaca, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Murat Centinmuhurdar, Bashar Assad, Paul Iddon Organizations: UAE, Service, United, United Arab Emirates, Turkey's Baykar Defense, Ministry of Defense, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Dassault Rafales, Ibn Khaldon, NATO, European Union, American University, Orion Policy Institute, Ataturk Airport, Security Initiative, Atlantic Council Locations: Saudi Arabia, Wall, Silicon, United Arab, Turkish, Riyadh, East, North Africa, South Caucasus, Ukraine, Armenian, Ministry of Defense Saudi Arabia, Republic of Turkey, Kuwait, UAE, Saudi, Istanbul, Yemen, Libya, Abu, Turkey, China, France, Qatar, Jeddah, Anadolu, Nahyan, Abu Dhabi

CNN —Dissident Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, arrested last October for supporting the protest movement in Iran last year, has been sentenced to six years and three months in prison, his official Twitter page said Monday. “Toomaj Salehi was sentenced to 6 years and 3 months in prison, and after 252 days of solitary confinement, transferred to the general section of the prison,” the tweet said. Salehi was arrested in October last year during protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini. Toomaj/Youtube“Your Toomaj, Iran’s Toomaj, the world’s Toomaj, and our Toomaj was unjustly imprisoned for six and a half years. When nationwide protests started in mid-September last year, Salehi called for Iranians to protest against the government.

Persons: Toomaj Salehi, “ Toomaj Salehi, IRNA, Reza Etemad Ansari, “, ” Ansari, Shargh, ” Salehi’s, Iqbal Iqbali, Salehi, Mahsa, Iran’s Toomaj, ” Iqbali, ” Salehi, ”, jang Organizations: CNN, Dissident, Twitter, Iranian, Kurd Locations: Iran, Sistani

☆ Turkey's runoff election is paralyzing key oil exports from northern Iraq
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Ruxandra Iordache | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Oil typically flows through Turkey from both the Iraqi state and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). More specifically, this Kirkuk crude flows down the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline linking the north of the Gulf country with Turkey's Ceyhan port in the Mediterranean. But the flows have been paralyzed since March 25 by a legal dispute involving federal Iraq, the KRG and Turkey. This decision led to U.S. companies deciding to exit contracts in Kurdistan and deterred some KRG oil buyers from further purchases. "The ruling party in Turkey [Erdogan's AKP] wants to settle the elections and then deal with KRG's oil with Baghdad."

Persons: KRG, Hayan Abdul, Ghani, —, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Lawk Ghafuri, Yerevan Saeed, Saeed, Bilal Wahab, Wagner Organizations: CNBC, Kurdistan Regional Government, Turkey Pipeline, International, Commerce's, Reuters, ICC, Baghdad, BTC, Kurdistan, Gulf Institute, Sinjar, Washington Institute for Near East Locations: Turkey, Ankara, Baghdad, Iraqi, Kurdistan, Kirkuk, Iraq, Basra, Paris, U.S, Ceyhan, Baku, Syria, Erbil, Yerevan, Washington

☆ Leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan to meet May 14 in Brussels -EU
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Annegret HilseMay 8 (Reuters) - The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan are to meet next week in Brussels, the European Union said on Monday, the latest attempt to secure a durable peace accord and resolve longstanding differences over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. An announcement on the EU Council's website said a three-corner meeting with Council President Charles Michel would take place at EU headquarters. Armenia and Azerbaijan, both former Soviet states, have fought two wars over 30 years focusing on Nagorno-Karabakh, recognised as part of Azerbaijan but populated mainly by Armenians. In a six-week conflict in 2020, ended by a Russian-brokered truce, Azerbaijan recovered territory lost in the first war dating from the collapse of Soviet rule. "The leaders have also agreed to continue to meet trilaterally in Brussels as frequently as necessary to address ongoing developments on the ground and standing agenda items of the Brussels meetings," the EU statement said.

☆ Tensions over Karabakh rise after Azerbaijan blocks land route from Armenia
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Azerbaijan "took appropriate measures to establish control at the starting point of the road," the foreign ministry said. Armenia said the checkpoint at the Hakari bridge in the Lachin corridor was a gross violation of the 2020 ceasefire agreement which ended a 2020 war. It called on Russia to implement the agreement which states that the Lachin corridor, the only road across Azerbaijan that links Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, must be under Russian peacekeepers' control. Azerbaijan then claimed that Armenian soldiers fired on Azeri units at around 1110 GMT in the Lachin district, a claim Armenia denied. In recent months Armenia has repeatedly called on Moscow to do more to support the peace and ensure unfettered access between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh through the Lachin Corridor.

☆ Russia warns Armenia against allying with ICC after Putin arrest warrant - RIA
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, March 27 (Reuters) - Russia has warned Armenia of "serious consequences" if it submits to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) which has issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin, the RIA news agency reported on Monday. The ICC issued the warrant this month, accusing Putin of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine, a move condemned by the Kremlin as a meaningless and outrageously partisan decision. RIA, a state Russian news agency, cited a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying that Moscow regarded Armenia's ICC plans as "unacceptable". The ICC warrant has the potential to complicate Putin's global travel plans if a country he wants to travel to is an official party to the Rome Statute. Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Alison WilliamsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The outages have in recent days led to growing concern that French and regional supplies of fuels, in particular diesel, could tighten in the coming weeks. Reuters GraphicsThe profit margin for refining crude oil into diesel has jumped by nearly 40% over the past month. The Ekofisk North Sea crude grade, produced at a field in Norway where TotalEnergies has equity, relies on France for two-thirds of its export stream, Rauball said. Meanwhile, prices for crude grades from Nigeria, one of France's top suppliers, have dropped by around $1/bbl in the past two weeks, traders said. "It's a buyer's market, with WTI and Azeri crude offered way down to sell," a trader of West African crude said.

☆ Five dead in new Azerbaijan-Armenia clash over Karabakh
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 5 (Reuters) - Azerbaijani troops and ethnic Armenians exchanged gunfire on Sunday in Azerbaijan's contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh, killing at least five people, according to reports from Azerbaijan and Armenia. Nagorno-Karabakh was the focal point of two wars that have pitted Azerbaijan against Azerbaijan in the more than 30 years since both ex-Soviet states have achieved attendance. Armenia's foreign ministry said three officials from the Karabakh interior ministry were killed. Nagorno-Karabakh has long been recognised internationally as part of Azerbaijan, though its population is made up predominantly of ethnic Armenians. Armenian forces took control of Karabakh in a war that gripped the region as Soviet rule was collapsing in the early 1990s.

☆ Leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan set for first meeting since October
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 18 (Reuters) - The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan are set to meet for the first time since October at trilateral talks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Munich on Saturday, the U.S. State Department said. The U.S. State Department said Blinken would meet Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev at 1235 GMT. Armenia has sent Azerbaijan a draft proposal for a peace settlement, Pashinyan said this week. Azeri civilians identifying themselves as environmental activists have been facing off since Dec. 12 with Russian peacekeepers on the Lachin corridor. Saturday's meeting would be the two leaders' first face-to-face encounter since late October, when Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted talks in the Black Sea city of Sochi.

Brent crude futures fell by 82 cents, or 1%, to $85.79 per barrel by 0132 GMT, while U.S. crude futures fell by $1.04, or 1.3%, to $79.10 per barrel. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said after the previous session ended that it would sell 26 million barrels of oil from the SPR, a release that had been mandated by Congress in previous years. The DOE had considered cancelling the fiscal year 2023 sale after U.S. President Joe Biden's administration last year sold a record 180 million barrels from the reserve. Ceyhan is for endpoint for pipelines that carry oil from Azerbaijan and Iraq and about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude can be exported from there. Crude production in the shale basins will rise by about 75,000 bpd in March to a record 9.36 million bpd, the EIA projected.

☆ Ceyhan loadings of BTC pipeline oil could begin within two days, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Summary Manual loadings while BTC control room repaired -officialKirkuk loadings resumed on TuesdayISTANBUL, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Turkey's Ceyhan port could resume loading oil from the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline in one or two days using "manual" procedures, a Turkish official and a shipping source said on Saturday. It is the storage and loading point for the BTC pipeline which carries oil from Azerbaijan as well as the Kirkuk pipeline from Iraq. The Kirkuk pipeline resumed flows on Tuesday evening and a tanker docked at Ceyhan to load that day. The control room for BTC pipeline loadings there was damaged, the Turkish official said, but added loadings were expected to resume "manually" while the control room is repaired. Loadings could begin within a day or two days, a shipping source said, quoting information received from the terminal.

☆ Italy to sign gas turbines contract with Azerbaijan
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ROME, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Italy is set to sign a new contract to sell four gas turbines to Azerbaijan, its industry minister said on Saturday ahead of his visit to the Asian country that is one of Rome's most important energy partners. The deal will involve Italy's Ansaldo Energia, a service provider for the power generation industry, and Azerenerji, the country's largest electrical power producer, minister Adolfo Urso said in a statement. The news comes after Italy last month signed a $8 billion gas production deal with Libya aimed at boosting energy supplies to Europe. Italy is working to double to 20 billion cubic meters the capacity of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which brings Azeri gas to Apulia in the southeast of the country. Rome sees a role for itself as a hub for gas supplies to northern Europe in the coming years to help offset the loss of imports from Russia.

☆ Oil falls as earthquake impact on crude eases, rate hike fears rise
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Laila Kearney | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Brent crude settled at $84.50 a barrel, losing 59 cents, or 0.7%. U.S. crude stocks rose last week to 455.1 million barrels, their highest since June 2021, the Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday, which also pushed oil prices lower. The prospect of stronger demand from China provided some support to oil prices, as the world's second largest oil consumer ended more than three years of stringent zero-COVID policy. "Overall, this should push global demand up by 2.1 million barrels a day in 2023." A weaker U.S. dollar, which typically trades inversely with oil, also helped limit losses in crude prices.

LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Oil prices dipped in U.S. trading hours on Thursday after the country's oil inventories hit their highest in months and on signs that the Federal Reserve could keep raising interest rates. "Relentlessly rising U.S. commercial inventories and potentially entrenched inflation limit any immediate upside potential," said PVM analyst Tamas Varga. He said recovering Chinese demand and falling inflation were set to support oil prices in the second half of the year. Crude oil stocks in the United States rose last week to their highest since June 2021, helped by higher production, the Energy Information Administration said. read more GLOB/MKTSBut the prospect of stronger demand from China provided some support to oil prices, as the world's second largest oil consumer ended more than three years of stringent zero-COVID policy.

LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Oil prices were steady on Thursday, as optimism over recovering Chinese demand was offset by U.S. oil inventories hitting their highest in months and signs the U.S. Federal Reserve could keep raising interest rates. He said recovering Chinese demand and falling inflation were set to support oil prices in the second half of the year. Crude oil stocks in the United States rose last week to their highest since June 2021, helped by higher production, the Energy Information Administration said. read more GLOB/MKTSBut the prospect of stronger demand from China lent some support to oil prices, as the world's second-largest oil consumer ended more than three years of stringent zero-COVID policy. "We expect Chinese oil consumption to increase by around 1.0 million barrels a day this year, with strong growth emerging as early as late in Q1," analysts from ANZ bank wrote in a note.

☆ Oil prices steady amid China demand revival, high U.S. inventories
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Muyu Xu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"U.S. crude oil ... inventories have continued to exceed expectations, which to some extent erodes the bullish sentiments brought from China's demand recovery hopes," said analysts from Haitong Futures. Crude oil stocks in the United States rose last week to their highest since June 2021, helped by higher production, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. U.S. gasoline and distillate inventories also rose last week as demand remained weak. read moreBut the prospect of stronger demand from China lent support to oil prices, as the world's second-largest oil consumer ended more than three years of stringent zero-COVID policy involving city-wide lockdowns and mass testing in December. The disaster had halted operations at Ceyhan and disrupted crude oil flows from Iraq and Azerbaijan.

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