Oil prices grow amid Russian restrictions on sales in February and hopes for higher demand in China

Oil prices rallied due to the market optimism on fuel demand recovery. Thus, demand is likely to rebound as China continues to lift restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The prospect of fuel demand growth from China is driven by the upcoming reopening of borders in the world's second-largest economy next month. The move comes after three years of severe restrictions on traveling and business activities to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The price of black gold also spiked due to the news of the forthcoming ban on Russian oil sales to the countries that support the G7 price threshold introduced on December 5. This ban is likely to come into force from February 1, 2023. 

A Reuters poll on Monday showed that U.S. oil inventories fell 1.6 million barrels. Meanwhile, there was also a drop in the country's distillate stockpiles.

The American Petroleum Institute (API), the U.S. non-governmental institution, is expected to release national crude oil inventory data on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. GMT. Data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) will also be published on Thursday at 14:30 GMT.