Oil steadies after monthly drop with glut, geopolitics in focus

Oil steadied after capping a monthly drop, with traders focused on concerns over a potential glut and geopolitical tensions.Brent traded near $67 a barrelwhile West Texas Intermediate was below $64. Traders are assessing whether India will yield to US pressure to end crude imports from Russia after Washington imposed secondary tariffs against the South Asian nation. On Monday, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a regional summit in China.

Oil has shed about 10% this year, weighed down by a deluge of additional supply from OPEC+, as well as concerns that the US-led trade war will crimp energy demand. The producer group, which includes Russia, is scheduled to hold a virtual meeting on Sept. 7 to discuss its next move, with the International Energy Agency forecasting the crude market faces a record glut next year.

The US measures against India are part of a wider drive to broker an end to the war in Ukraine, although Washington hasn’t imposed similar tariffs against China. At the weekend, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro kept up the pressure, telling Fox News Sunday that New Delhi was fueling “the Russian war machine” and “nothing but a laundromat for the Kremlin.”In the US, hedge funds winnowed their bullish position on US crude to the lowest in about 18 years as uncertainty over economic policy compounded growing concerns about oversupply.

Also Read: Asian stocks retreat at Ooen after US tech selloff