SINGAPORE, (Reuters) – Oil prices rose on Wednesday in Asia after European Union leaders announced a phased and partial ban on Russian oil. China also ended its COVID-19 lockdown at Shanghai.

August delivery was at $116.38/barrel at 0037 GMT. This is an increase of 78cs or 0.7%

Tuesday’s expiration of the July front-month delivery contract was $122.84 per barrel. That is up by 1%

U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude (WTI) rose 0.6% or 63 Cents to $115.30/barrel

These benchmarks finished May higher than the previous month, which marks the sixth consecutive month of increasing prices.

On Monday, EU leaders agreed to reduce Russia’s oil imports by 90% before the year ends. This is the toughest sanctions the bloc has imposed on Moscow since its invasion of Ukraine in March 2013. Moscow refers to it as a “special military operations”.

When the sanction on crude oil is fully implemented, it will take six months to phase in and eight months for refined products. In concession to Hungary the embargo does not apply to pipeline oil coming from Russia.

“However, with Germany and Poland already confirmed they won’t be buying Russian oil via pipeline or sea, the total effect would be to cut 90% of Russian crude sales to the EU by year’s end,” analysts from ANZ Research said in a note.

China’s COVID-19 Lockdown in Shanghai was lifted at midnight on Wednesday, after two months. It has raised expectations that China will see a rise in fuel demand.

Reports that producers considered suspending Russia from the OPEC+ production agreement were a good example of the capsizing gains.

Although there wasn’t a formal call for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to increase oil production to compensate for Russian shortages, the Wall Street Journal reports that some Gulf member countries had already begun to plan for an increase in output over the coming months. This was based on delegates to OPEC.

Stephen Innes (managing partner, SPI Asset Management), stated that there was an expectation of additional supply to the market even after Russia had been cut.

According to U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Tuesday monthly report, March saw oil production rise by more than 3 percent to their highest point since November.