Oil prices recovered in early Asian trading on Thursday, after falling to their lowest level this year, as production and gasoline inventories rose in the United States as fears grew that the economic slowdown would lead to weak demand for fuel.

Meanwhile, queues of oil tankers continue to face more delays in crossing from Russia's ports on the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, as operators race to comply with new insurance rules approved by Turkey this month.

Brent crude futures rose to $78.17 a barrel, by 06:00 UTC, and West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose to $73.01 a barrel.

Yesterday, Wednesday, Brent fell below the lowest closing level recorded this year, which it touched on the first day of 2022, while US crude fell to a new low, the lowest in a year.

And the US Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that US crude production rose to 12.2 million barrels per day last week, the highest level since last August.

And while US crude stocks fell last week, gasoline and distillate stocks rose, exacerbating concerns about falling demand.

The Energy Information Administration said that gasoline stocks grew by 5.3 million barrels during the week to 219.1 million barrels, and distillate stocks, including diesel and heating oil, swelled by 6.2 million barrels.

But data showed that the Japanese economy contracted less than expected in the third quarter of this year, and this helped the rise in oil prices, and the easing of Covid-19 restrictions in China - one of the largest consumers of crude oil in the world - helped stabilize oil prices.

The Group of Seven and the European Union imposed new restrictions targeting Russian oil exports (Reuters)

queues of oil tankers

Meanwhile, an official at the British Treasury said that officials from Western countries are in talks with their Turkish counterparts to find a solution to the queues waiting for oil tankers off Turkey.

This came after the Group of Seven and the European Union imposed new restrictions targeting Russian oil exports on the fifth of December, as the Group of Seven, the European Union and Australia agreed to prevent shipping service providers, such as insurance companies, from dealing with Russian crude exports unless sold in accordance with to a price ceiling they set for Russian crude with the aim of depriving Moscow of wartime oil revenues.

However, a separate measure implemented by Turkey since the beginning of this month has caused a backlog of waiting tankers, as ships are required to provide evidence of insurance coverage during the transit period in the Bosphorus Strait when stopping in Turkish ports.

The Tribeca Shipping Agency said that 5 other tankers of more than 200 meters in length are waiting north of the Bosphorus to cross south towards the Mediterranean, in addition to 11 tankers since the previous day.

The agency indicated that 9 tankers are waiting to cross from the Dardanelles Strait to the south, down from 12 the day before. in Egypt.

Wali Adio, US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, told Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal in a phone call yesterday, Wednesday, that the price ceiling applies only to Russian oil and does not necessarily entail additional checks and inspections on ships passing through Turkish territorial waters, according to the US Treasury Department.