Market News

Talks could lead to an end to sanctions on Russian crude

Oil (BZ=F, CL=F)

Oil prices edged lower in early European trading on Tuesday amid renewed diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, raising hopes that sanctions on Russian crude exports could be lifted.

Brent (BZ=F) crude futures lost 0.7% to trade at $65.09 per barrel at the time of writing, while West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) futures retreated by 1% to $62.82 a barrel.

It comes after US president Donald Trump’s meeting at the White House on Monday with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky and a group of European allies. In a subsequent social media post, Trump said he had spoken with Russian president Vladimir Putin and was working to arrange a summit between Putin and Zelensky, to be followed by a meeting of all three leaders.

While Trump has called for a swift resolution to the conflict, concerns remain in Kyiv and among its allies that he may press for a deal on terms that are favourable to Moscow.

"Oil prices are largely responding to outcomes of recent meetings between Trump-Putin and Trump-Zelensky and while no outright peace deal or ceasefire seems imminent, there has been some progress made and chances of further escalation or intensification of sanctions on Russia from US or Europe may be off the table for now," said Suvro Sarkar, lead energy analyst at DBS Bank.