Oil prices ease as Ukraine peace talks offset Mideast instability worries
Oil prices eased about 1% on Tuesday as U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed moves to end the three-year-old war in Ukraine, which could result in a possible easing of sanctions on Russian fuel exports.
Putin agreed to Trump’s proposal that Russia and Ukraine cease attacking each other’s energy infrastructure for 30 days.
Brent (LCOc1) futures fell 51 cents, or 0.7%, to settle at $70.56 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 68 cents, or 1.0%, to settle at $66.90.
Even if the U.S. and Russia work out a ceasefire in Ukraine, some analysts said it will likely take a long while before Russian energy exports increase in a significant way.
Russia produced about 9.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude in 2024, down from a recent high of 9.8 million bpd in 2022 and a record 10.6 million bpd in 2016, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data going back to 1997.
In addition to a possible boost to global oil supplies from Russia, economic worries related to Trump’s trade tariffs also weighed on crude prices.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned that U.S. tariffs would reduce economic growth in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and weigh on global energy demand.
In the world’s biggest economy, U.S. single-family homebuilding rebounded sharply in February amid a thaw in winter weather, but rising construction costs from tariffs and labor shortages threaten the recovery.
Source: Reuters
