Oil prices rise faintly on market expectations of greater fuel demand from China.

A barrel of European reference oil Brent trades for USD 83.40 Monday morning CET against USD 82. 78 Friday afternoon. US benchmark crude West Texas Intermediate sells at the same time for USD 76.69 relative to USD 76.00.

Analysts forecast Chinese oil import hitting the highest level ever during 2023 on account of surging demand for transport fuels, reports Reuters.

China and India are now the world’s largest importers of Russian oil after the EU imposed sanctions on Moscow.

Russia is otherwise planning to cut national oil output by 500,000 barrels per day reportedly in retaliation to Western price caps on Russian oil as well as economic sanctions.

Meanwhile, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and OPEC+ allies announced back in October plans to reduce oil production quotas by 2 million bpd.

Goldman Sachs analysts write to the news agency noting that market development could create an imbalance between supply and demand, pointing out that supply outpaced by demand could result in prices surging beyond USD 100 a barrel by the end of this year, according to Reuters.