The U.S. recently announced sanctions on Russian oil producers, along with vessels that have been shipping barrels of Russian crude. India will be hit the hardest by the sanctions, more so than China which has also been snapping up Moscow's cheap oil,

Oil prices fell back slightly on Thursday, a day after settling at multi-month highs on U.S. President Joe Biden's latest sanctions targeting Russia and a larger than forecast fall in U.S. crude stocks.

Oil prices on the New York fuel exchange remain high due to concerns about threats to the global supply of this resource, with U.S. oil reserves experiencing the longest series of declines since 2021,