Oil holds drop as traders dismiss impact of US moves over Russia

Oil held a five-day decline — the longest losing run since January — as investors looked beyond US efforts to punish buyers of Russian crude, while tracking a diplomatic push by President Donald Trump to halt the war in Ukraine.West Texas Intermediate was little changed below $65 a barrel after slumping to the lowest close since early June, while Brent settled just shy of $67. On Wednesday, Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50% due to the nation’s purchases of Russian energy, with implementation set to begin in three weeks. Still, there’s been no similar US move against China, another major importer of Moscow’s oil.

On the diplomatic front, Trump said there was a “very good chance” he would meet soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in another bid to broker peace between the two countries. He also said there would be “a lot more” penalties related to purchases of Russian oil, without giving details.
Crude has moved sharply lower so far in August after a run of three monthly gains. Traders are positioning for a potential glut later this year after OPEC+ returned millions of barrels of shuttered capacity to the market. In addition, there are concerns about a slowdown in economic growth — and potentially weaker energy consumption — as Trump’s broader trade tariffs exact a toll.

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