By Alex Lawler
LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices steadied on Wednesday as investors digested an industry report showing a drop in U.S. crude and gasoline inventories and the potential impact of new U.S. tariffs on India while watching for developments in the war in Ukraine.
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Tuesday that he will meet Ukrainian representatives in New York this week and that Washington is also in talks with Russia in an effort to end the war.
Oil found some support from the American Petroleum Institute’s weekly supply report, which market sources said showed U.S. crude, gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week. Official inventory data is due at 1430 GMT.
Brent crude futures were up 18 cents, or 0.3%, at $67.40 a barrel by 1212 GMT. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 19 cents, or 0.3%, to $63.44. Both contracts had fallen by more than 2% on Tuesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s doubling of tariffs on imports from India to as much as 50% was also in focus. The tariffs over India’s purchases of Russian took effect on Wednesday.
While there is no sign of supply disruption so far, uncertainty over whether the U.S. will target the oil flows is deterring some traders from taking new positions, said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.
“That uncertainty, in my view, keeps some investors on the sidelines until more clarity emerges on the next steps of U.S. President Trump,” he said. “The API report was supportive.”
In other recent developments, Russian refineries have been hit by Ukrainian drone attacks, forcing them to export the crude they cannot process.
Russia has made an upward revision to its crude oil export plan from western ports by 200,000 barrels per day in August from the initial schedule after attacks on its refineries last week, three people close to the matter said on Tuesday.
(Additional reporting by Mohi Narayan and Sudarshan VaradhanEditing by Edwina Gibbs and David Goodman)
