2022.05.1710:01:00UTC+00Oil Inches Higher On Demand Revival Hopes

Oil prices were seeing modest gains on Tuesday despite the European Union failing to unanimously agree on an import ban on Russian crude, a move that would further tighten global supply.

Benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.7 percent to $115.02 a barrel in European trade, while U.S. crude futures traded 0.6 percent higher at $112.53.

Oil consolidated after a four-day surge as investors await U.S. crude oil supply data from the American Petroleum Institute, due later in the day.

Prices inched lower earlier in the day as Hungary resisted a European Union push for a ban on Russian oil imports, with ambassadors now charged to negotiate an agreement. The recovery from the day's lows was helped by reports that Shanghai is looking to reopen broadly and allow normal life to resume from June 1.

China, the world's largest importer of oil, processed 11 percent less crude in April than a year earlier, with daily throughput falling to the lowest since March 2020 due to a resurgence in COVID-19 cases.