WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil posted incremental gains on Friday as uncertainty prevails over the US-Russia conflict over the war with Ukraine combined with the 'sanctions' threat on Russian oil exports.
Today, the WTI Crude Oil was last seen trading, up by $0.03 (or 0.05%), to $63.91 per barrel.
Days before, US President Trump had issued an ultimatum to Russia (with a deadline that expires today) to find ways to end its war with Ukraine or face very high tariffs on its oil exports. He also threatened that those nations buying Russian oil would also be imposed 'secondary sanctions' as a 'penalty' tariff if they continue purchasing from Russia.
Trump later imposed an additional 25% tariff on India, which is a large purchaser of Russian oil, on top of the already-imposed 25% tariff bringing the nation's tariff liability to a whopping 50%.
As a result, Russia's seaborne oil shipments to India fell to just 460,000 barrels per day last week
Earlier, this led to some supply side concerns, helping oil prices shoot up. However, after a US envoy to Russia stated yesterday that negotiations to end the deadlock were progressing well, oil prices stabilized.
Further, the Russian government stated that the presidents of the US and Russia would meet soon. A US White House official said that the meeting could take place anytime early next week.
As optimism grew stronger over the significant US-Russia talks, supply side concerns have eased.
Still, the US sanctions on India remain in place. China, another big oil importer from Russia - as Trump hinted - could also be slapped with additional tariffs in the coming days.
Meanwhile, the OPEC+ alliance that is aiming to stabilize markets by gradually restoring production to recalibrate global oil markets by targeting a further 5,48,000 bpd rise in August, boosted oil output by 270,000 barrels per day to to 27.38 million bpd in July, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
OPEC+'s July increase is part of a broader plan by the cartel to unwind voluntary production cuts implemented since April.
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