Crude oil markets continue to see buyers, as we are trying to price in geopolitical concerns, with a strike against Iran being possible. Because of this, the supply and demand situation is being ignored at the moment.

Crude imports hit record highs, with December stockpiling estimated at 2.67 million bpd-the fastest pace since 2020-as Beijing took advantage of low prices and expanded storage capacity.

Prices on oil jumped on Thursday as the White House ratcheted up pressure on Iran over negotiations for a new nuclear deal.

By Shadia Nasralla LONDON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Oil prices hit their highest since late September on Wednesday after a winter storm disrupted U.S. crude output while a weak U.S. dollar and continued Kazakh outages lent further support.

"But while crude oil price increased by 6.2 per cent, the local retail price increased by 14.3 per cent, indicating that local oil companies more than doubled the rate of increases in their main input cost,

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China's surplus of crude oil jumped to 2.67 million bpd in December, up from 1.88 million bpd in November and the most since the 2.27 million bpd seen in June 2020, when the world's largest crude buyer was gorging on cheap oil at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Oil prices were mixed on Wednesday as supply concerns grew after a winter storm disrupted crude output and halted Gulf Coast exports over the weekend.