As the number of COVID-19 cases in China increased on Thursday, there was less optimism fora rebound in fuel demand in the second-largest oil consumer in the world. 

While China started to dismantle the world's strictest COVID regime of lockdowns and testing, some countries passed new travel restrictions on Chinese visitors in response to the severity of the most recent outbreak and questions about official data. 

By 0123 GMT, the February delivery contract for Brent LCOc1 dropped 42 cents, or 0 point 5%, to $82 point 84 per barrel, while the February contract for US crude CLc1 dropped 50 cents, or 0 point 6%, to $78 point 46 per barrel. 

The Federal Reserve is attempting to contain price increases in a tight labor market, andexpectations of another US interest rate hike have roiled the oil markets. 

Approximately 1.3 million barrels less than anticipated were lost from US crude oil inventories in the week ending December.  23, as per data from the American Petroleum Institute that are cited by market sources. 

This contrasted with analysts' projections for a draw of 1.5 million barrels. At 10:30 a.m., the US government will release its weekly statistics. m. Thursday EST. 

The Keystone pipeline segment that was forced to be shut down due to a leak earlier this month is being restarted, according to pipeline operator TC Energy, which is also putting pressure on prices. However, that comes at a time when an arctic freeze has shut down some oil refineries, causing a backlog in crude supplies. 

Even though some of the recovery is anticipated to last until January, oil refineries kept upsizing their operations. Read the complete story. 

However, markets received some support from Russian President Vladimir Putin's ban on the exportof crude oil and oil products starting in February. 1 for a period of five months to countries that follow a Western price cap. 

Since the country has been working to replace Russian oil supplies and ensure supply security since the spring, Germany claimed that the ban has "no practical significance.".