Wider markets also rallied on Wednesday, as this week's sell-off started to ease.
Asia's third-biggest economy imports and exports refined fuels as it holds surplus refining capacity
A delegation led by South Korea's president visiting Saudi Arabia inked a preliminary deal to explore a project to develop a potentially cleaner form of energy
Brent crude futures rose $1.16, or 1.4 per cent, to a two-and-a-half month high of $85.63 a barrel at 1125 GM
The drop compares with an average annual import growth rate of nearly 10% since 2015
Oil prices typically move inversely to the U.S. dollar, with a stronger greenback making commodities more expensive for those holding other currencies
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the economy of the United States, the world's biggest oil consumer, should weather the current Covid-19 surge with only 'short-lived' impacts
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) added 0.9 per cent after capping a two-day drop
Brent crude futures were up 37 cents, or 0.46%, to $80.37 a barrel by 1210 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 29 cents, or 0.38%, to $77.28
Mexico's state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is looking to suspend its crude exports by 2023 to allocate all of its output toward domestic consumption, CEO Octavio Romero has said.
India's crude oil imports in November rose to their highest level in 10 months as refiners stocked up to boost runs in anticipation of strong demand
IOCL operates a network of more than 15,000-km long crude oil, petroleum product and gas pipelines
Crude oil market, according to Goldman Sachs, is pricing in a far larger demand hit than during Delta - equivalent to no planes flying for the next three months
India's production of crude oil continued to decline in November, with lower output from state-owned firms leading to an over 2% drop, official data released on Tuesday showed
Easing concerns about the impact of new coronavirus variant Omicron on Asia's fuel demand are also supporting Asian refiners' margins, trade sources said.
Brent crude futures fell 91 cents, or 1.2%, to $72.79 a barrel, after losing 69 cents on Tuesday
Rosneft has signed a deal to supply refiner Indian Oil Corp (IOC) with up to 2 million tonnes of crude next year
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 27 cents, or 0.4%, to $66.77 a barrel at 0122 GMT, adding to a 1.4% gain on Thursday.
Iraqi Ministry of Oil has said that the country exported 98.19 million barrels of crude oil in November
US President Joe Biden's administration announced plans to release millions of barrels of oil from strategic reserves in coordination with other large consuming nations