By Seher Dareen
LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices rose on Thursday, bolstered by signs of strong demand in the United States, with uncertainty over efforts to end the war in Ukraine also lending support.
Brent crude futures were close to a two-week high and up 46 cents, or 0.7%, to $67.30 a barrel at 0817 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 50 cents, or 0.8%, to $63.21 a barrel.
Both contracts climbed over 1% in the prior session.
Russia said on Wednesday that attempts to resolve security issues relating to Ukraine over the war without Moscow’s participation were a “road to nowhere”.
“If the White House’s efforts do result in a halt to hostilities in Ukraine, and Russia gradually coming back into the international fold, it will be bearish for the crude market. But for now the Brent price floor to watch out for remains at $65 a barrel,” said independent analyst Gaurav Sharma.
U.S. President Donald Trump has announced an additional tariff of 25% on Indian goods from August 27 because of India’s Russian crude purchases, which make up for nearly 35% of its overall oil imports.
Russian embassy officials in New Delhi said on Wednesday Moscow expects to continue supplying oil to India despite warnings from the United States.
Given uncertainty over progress towards ending the war in Ukraine, the possibility of tighter sanctions on Russia has resurfaced, which led to bullish sentiment among traders, said Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates.
Meanwhile, U.S. crude inventories fell by 6 million barrels last week to 420.7 million barrels, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, against expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.8 million-barrel draw. [EIA/S]
“Crude oil prices rebounded as signs of strong demand in the U.S. boosted sentiment,” Daniel Hynes, senior commodity strategist at ANZ, said in a note on Thursday.
(Reporting by Katya Golubkova in Tokyo and Siyi Liu in Singapore; Editing by Tom Hogue, Stephen Coates and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
