By Ahmad Ghaddar
LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices steadied on Thursday, paring early gains after the Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet U.S. President Donald Trump in the coming days, raising expectations for a diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine.
Brent crude futures were up 30 cents, or 0.5%, at $67.19 a barrel by 1201 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 27 cents, or 0.4%, to $64.62.
Both benchmarks slid about 1% on Wednesday, touching their lowest in eight weeks, after comments from Trump on progress in talks with Moscow.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Thursday that Trump and Putin will meet in the coming days in what would be the first summit between leaders of the two countries since 2021.
A White House official had previously said that Trump could meet Putin as soon as next week, though the U.S. continued preparations to impose secondary sanctions, potentially including China, to pressure Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.
Oil is modestly up, benefiting from a crude draw in the U.S., higher Saudi prices for Asia and solid Chinese crude imports in July, said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo, adding that gains were curbed by news of the potential Trump-Putin meeting next week.
Russia is the world’s second-biggest producer of oil behind the United States.
The Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell by 3 million barrels to 423.7 million barrels in the week ended August 1, exceeding an expected decline of 591,000 barrels in a Reuters poll of analysts. [EIA/S]
In China, crude oil imports in July dipped 5.4% from June but were still up 11.5% year on year, with analysts expecting refining activity to remain firm in the near term.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, on Wednesday raised its September crude oil prices for Asian buyers, the second monthly rise in a row, on tight supply and robust demand.
Global macroeconomic uncertainty capped price gains, however, after the U.S. ordered a fresh set of tariffs on Indian goods. Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods on Wednesday, citing the country’s continued imports of Russian oil. The new import tax will take effect on August 28.
Trump also said he could announce further tariffs on China.
(Reporting by Ahmad GhaddarAdditional reporting by Yuka Obayashi and Trixie YapEditing by David Goodman)
