Oil steadies as investors await Russia-Ukraine peace talk direction
A view shows an oil pump jack outside Almetyevsk, in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
LONDON :Oil prices steadied on Thursday as market participants weighed talks to end the war in Ukraine against the impact of Western sanctions on Russian supply, though trading was set to remain thin due to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.
Brent crude futures were 5 cents or 0.1 per cent up at $63.18 a barrel by 1412 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 18 cents or 0.3 per cent to $58.83 a barrel.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the outlines of a draft peace plan discussed by the United States and Ukraine could become the basis of future agreements to end the conflict in Ukraine. Putin also said that once Ukrainian troops withdraw from positions they hold in key areas, then the fighting will stop, but that if they do not then Russia will achieve its objectives by force.
U.S. and Ukrainian officials have been trying to narrow their gaps over President Donald Trump's plan to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two, with Kyiv wary of being strong-armed into accepting a deal largely on Russian terms, including territorial concessions.
"Geopolitical volatility continues and hopes of a potential ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine have neutralized the supply concerns arising from new U.S. sanctions on key Russian producers," Barclays said in a note.
Meanwhile, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies are likely to leave oil output levels unchanged at their meetings on Sunday and to agree on a mechanism to assess members' maximum output capacity, two delegates from the group and a source familiar with OPEC+ talks told Reuters.
Eight OPEC+ countries, which have been gradually raising production in 2025, are expected to keep their policy to pause hikes in the first quarter of 2026 unchanged, the two delegates said.
Limiting crude price declines were rising expectations for a U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate cut in December. A lower rate typically stimulates economic growth and bolsters demand for oil.
"We are now approaching the year-end with thinner liquidity without any new drivers unless the Fed surprises the markets with a hawkish guidance on the 10 December FOMC meeting," said OANDA senior market analyst Kelvin Wong.
"WTI crude is likely to be range-bound between US$56.80 and US$60.40 till year-end," he added.
(Additinoal reporting by Enes Tunagur, Yuka Obayashi and Trixie Yap; Editing by Louise Heavens and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
