Crude oil prices rose by more than 1% in midday trading on Monday, December 8, the opening session of the week, following gains for three consecutive sessions. This comes amid ongoing monitoring of developments regarding a potential peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. Brent crude is down approximately 1.07%, trading at $63.07 per barrel, while US crude (WTI) is trading at $59.40 per barrel, down about 1.13%.

Meanwhile, Chinese customs data showed that China’s crude oil imports in November rose by 12.28 million barrels, a 4.9% year-on-year increase, reaching their highest average daily import level in 27 months.