Oil prices rose on Monday after last week's steep decline, as investors looked ahead to high-stakes talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed at ending the Ukraine war.
By 13:18 GMT, Brent crude futures were up 0.6% at $66.96 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate also gained 0.6% to $64.26. The rebound follows a 4% drop last week as traders scaled back expectations of major supply disruptions.
The August 15 meeting in Alaska comes after Washington ramped up pressure on Moscow, warning of secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian oil if no peace deal is reached. However, instead of a blanket sanction on all buyers, the U.S. imposed an additional tariff on India, which tempered fears of tighter supply.
UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo noted that Indian demand has been weaker than expected, prompting the bank to cut its Brent year-end forecast from $68 to $62. The revision also reflects stronger supply from South America and steady production from sanctioned nations. UBS expects OPEC+ to pause planned output hikes unless new disruptions arise.
In the corporate space, ExxonMobil announced that its Guyana-led consortium began crude production at a new floating production, storage, and offloading vessel four months ahead of schedule.
Global economic concerns also weighed on sentiment. China's latest data showed producer prices falling faster than expected in July, while Trump's new tariffs on dozens of countries are expected to slow activity and push inflation higher.
