Oil prices steady amid focus on US-Russia talks

Oil prices steadied on Monday after falling more than 4% last week, as investors awaited the upcoming talks between the United States and Russia later this week regarding the war in Ukraine.

Brent crude futures rose 5 cents to $66.64 a barrel by 10:03 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell by 1 cent to $63.87 a barrel.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.

The talks follow increased US pressure on Russia, raising the likelihood of tougher sanctions on Moscow if a peace agreement is not reached. Trump had set a deadline last Friday for Russia — which invaded Ukraine in February 2022 — to agree to peace or face secondary sanctions targeting its oil buyers. At the same time, Washington is pressing India to reduce its purchases of Russian oil.

Prices have fallen in recent days after market participants lowered their estimates of supply disruptions, likely because the United States imposed additional tariffs only on India, rather than on all buyers of Russian oil, according to Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS.

UBS cut its year-end Brent price forecast to $62 a barrel from $68, citing increased supplies from South America and continued strong output from sanctioned countries. The bank added that Indian demand had recently fallen short of expectations and said it expects the OPEC+ alliance to halt production increases unless there are larger and unexpected supply disruptions.

Exxon Mobil said on Friday that a consortium it leads began crude oil production four months ahead of schedule at the fourth floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) unit in Guyana.

Energy Aspects consultancy estimated that Indian refiners have already purchased a total of 5 million barrels of US WTI crude for August-loading shipments.