Oil prices slide to 8-week low as US-Russia talks stir sanction uncertainty
Brent crude futures fell 75 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $66.89 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 81 cents, or 1.2%, to settle at $64.35.
Those moves marked a fifth consecutive day of losses for both crude benchmarks, with Brent closing at its lowest since June 10 and WTI closing at its lowest since June 5.
Trump said on Wednesday that his special envoy Steve Witkoff made "great progress" in his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Washington continued its preparations to impose secondary sanctions on Friday.
Trump has threatened additional sanctions on Moscow if no moves are made to end the war in Ukraine.
"Everyone agrees this war must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come," Trump said, without providing further details.
Russia is the world's second-biggest producer of crude after the U.S., so any potential deal that would reduce sanctions would make it easier for Russia to export more oil.
Earlier in the day, oil prices rose after Trump issued an executive order imposing an additional 25% tariff on goods from India, saying it directly or indirectly imported Russian oil. The new import tax will go into effect 21 days after August 7.
India, along with China, is a major buyer of Russian oil.
"For the time being, the 21-day start to the new Indian tariffs, while Russia tries to put together some kind of cease fire agreement ahead of President Trump's August 8 deadline, still leaves too much uncertainty around the situation," Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho, said in a note.
In addition to the tariff and sanction uncertainty, analysts said a planned OPEC+ supply increase has weighed on the market in recent days.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, meanwhile, will visit China for the first time in over seven years, a government source said on Wednesday, in a further sign of a diplomatic thaw with Beijing as tensions with the U.S. rise.
In other news, Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, on Wednesday hiked its September crude oil prices for Asian buyers, the second monthly rise in a row, on tight supply and robust demand.
Oil markets found support earlier in the day from a bigger-than-expected decline in U.S. crude inventories last week.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said energy firms pulled 3 million barrels of crude from inventories during the week ended August 1. ,
That was much bigger than the 0.6-million-barrel draw analysts forecast in a Reuters poll, but was smaller than the decline of 4.2 million barrels that market sources said the American Petroleum Institute trade group cited in its figures on Tuesday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Powys County Times
2 minutes ago
- Powys County Times
Trump says he would meet Putin even if Russian leader won't meet Zelensky
Donald Trump has said he would meet Vladimir Putin even if the Russian leader will not meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Mr Trump was asked by a reporter if the Russian leader would need to meet Mr Zelensky to secure a meeting with the US, and replied: 'No, he doesn't. No.' His comments followed Mr Putin's remarks earlier on Thursday that he hoped to meet the US president next week, possibly in the United Arab Emirates, but the White House was still working through the details of any potential meetings, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. Mr Putin's announcement came on the eve of a White House deadline for Moscow to show progress towards ending the three-year war in Ukraine or suffer additional economic sanctions. Asked on Thursday if his deadline for Friday would hold, Mr Trump said of Mr Putin: 'It's going to be up to him. We're going to see what he has to say. It's going to be up to him. Very disappointed.' He also touched on killings that have continued on both sides and added, 'I don't like long waits. I think it's a shame.' A White House official told the Associated Press on Thursday morning that a US-Russian summit would not happen if Mr Putin did not agree to meet Mr Zelensky, but the official later said it only made it less likely. Speaking of possible direct talks with Mr Zelensky, the Russian president said he has mentioned several times that he was not against it, adding: 'It's a possibility, but certain conditions need to be created.' The Kremlin has previously said Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky should meet only when an agreement negotiated by their delegations is close. Ukraine fears being sidelined by direct negotiations between Washington and Moscow, and Mr Zelensky said he had phone conversations with several European leaders on Thursday amid a flurry of diplomatic activity. European countries have pledged to back Ukraine for as long as it takes to defeat Russia's invasion. Mr Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, earlier brushed aside the possibility of Mr Zelensky joining the summit, something the White House said Mr Trump was ready to consider. Mr Putin has spurned Mr Zelensky's previous offers of a meeting to clinch a breakthrough. Asked who initiated the possible talks with the US president, Mr Putin said that did not matter and 'both sides expressed an interest'. A meeting would be the first US-Russia summit since 2021, when Joe Biden met Mr Putin in Geneva. It would be a significant milestone towards Mr Trump's effort to end the war, although there is no guarantee it would stop the fighting since Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on their conditions for peace. Months of US-led efforts have yielded no progress on stopping Russia's invasion of its neighbour. The war has killed tens of thousands of troops on both sides and more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations. Western officials have repeatedly accused Mr Putin of stalling in peace negotiations to allow Russian forces time to capture more Ukrainian land. He has previously offered no concessions and said he will accept a settlement only on his terms. Mr Zelensky said European countries must also be involved in finding a solution to the war on their own continent. 'Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same bold approach from the Russian side. It is time to end the war,' he added. A ceasefire and long-term security guarantees are priorities in potential negotiation with Russia, he said on social media. He noted that Russian strikes on civilians have not eased despite Mr Trump publicly urging Mr Putin to relent. A Russian attack on Wednesday in the central Dnipro region killed four people and wounded eight others, he said. A new Gallup poll published on Thursday found that Ukrainians are increasingly eager for a peace settlement. In the survey, conducted in early July, about seven in 10 Ukrainians said their country should seek to negotiate a settlement as soon as possible.
The Independent
2 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump orders colleges to prove they don't consider race in admissions
Colleges will be required to submit data to prove they do not consider race in admissions under a new policy ordered Thursday by President Donald Trump. In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled against the use of affirmative action in admissions but said colleges may still consider how race has shaped students' lives if applicants share that information in their admissions essays. Trump is accusing colleges of using personal statements and other proxies to consider race, which conservatives view as illegal discrimination. The role of race in admissions has featured in the Trump administration's battle against some of the nation's most elite colleges — viewed by Republicans as liberal hotbeds. For example, the new policy is similar to parts of recent settlement agreements the government negotiated with Brown University and Columbia University, restoring their federal research money. The universities agreed to give the government data on the race, grade point average and standardized test scores of applicants, admitted students and enrolled students. The schools also agreed to be audited by the government and to release admissions statistics to the public. Conservatives have argued that despite the Supreme Court ruling, colleges have continued to consider race. "The persistent lack of available data — paired with the rampant use of 'diversity statements' and other overt and hidden racial proxies — continues to raise concerns about whether race is actually used in admissions decisions in practice,' says the memorandum signed by Trump. The memo directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to require colleges to report more data 'to provide adequate transparency into admissions.' The National Center for Education Statistics will collect new data, including the race and sex of colleges' applicants, admitted students and enrolled students, the Education Department said in a statement. If colleges fail to submit timely, complete and accurate data, McMahon can take action under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which outlines requirements for colleges receiving federal financial aid for students, according to the memo. It is unclear what practical impact the executive order will have on colleges. Current understanding of federal law prohibits them from collecting information on race as part of admissions, said Jon Fansmith, senior vice president of government relations at the American Council on Education, an association of college presidents. 'Ultimately, will it mean anything? Probably not,' Fansmith said. 'But it does continue this rhetoric from the administration that some students are being preferenced in the admission process at the expense of other students.' Because of the Supreme Court ruling, colleges have been barred from asking the race of students who are applying, Fansmith said. Once students enroll, the schools can ask about race, but students must be told they have a right not to answer. In this political climate, many students won't report their race, Fansmith said. So when schools release data on student demographics, the figures often give only a partial picture of the campus makeup. Diversity changed at some colleges — but not all The first year of admissions data after the Supreme Court ruling showed no clear pattern in how colleges' diversity changed. Results varied dramatically from one campus to the next. Some schools, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Amherst College, saw steep drops in the percentage of Black students in their incoming classes. But at other elite, selective schools such as Yale, Princeton and the University of Virginia, the changes were less than a percentage point year to year. Some colleges have added more essays or personal statements to their admissions process to get a better picture of an applicant's background, a strategy the Supreme Court invited in its ruling. 'Nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant's discussion of how race affected the applicant's life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university,' Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in 2023 for the court's conservative majority. As an alternative to affirmative action, colleges for years have tried a range of strategies to achieve the diversity they say is essential to their campuses. Many have given greater preference to low-income families. Others started admitting top students from every community in their state. Prior to the ruling, nine states had banned affirmative action, starting with California in 1996. The University of California saw enrollment change after the statewide ban in 1996. Within two years, Black and Hispanic enrollments fell by half at the system's two most selective campuses — Berkeley and UCLA. The system would go on to spend more than $500 million on programs aimed at low-income and first-generation college students. The 10-campus University of California system also started a program that promises admission to the top 9% of students in each high school across the state, an attempt to reach strong students from all backgrounds. A similar promise in Texas has been credited for expanding racial diversity, and opponents of affirmative action cite it as a successful model. In California, the promise drew students from a wider geographic area but did little to expand racial diversity, the system said in a brief to the Supreme Court. It had almost no impact at Berkeley and UCLA, where students compete against tens of thousands of other applicants. Today at UCLA and Berkeley, Hispanic students make up 20% of undergraduates, higher than in 1996 but lower than their 53% share among California's high school graduates. Black students, meanwhile, have a smaller presence than they did in 1996, accounting for 4% of undergraduates at Berkeley. After Michigan voters rejected affirmative action in 2006, the University of Michigan shifted attention to low-income students. The school sent graduates to work as counselors in low-income high schools and started offering college prep in Detroit and Grand Rapids. It offered full scholarships for low-income Michigan residents and, more recently, started accepting fewer early admission applications, which are more likely to come from white students. Despite the University of Michigan's efforts, the share of Black and Hispanic undergraduates hasn't fully rebounded from a falloff after 2006. And while Hispanic enrollments have been increasing, Black enrollments continued to slide, going from 8% of undergraduates in 2006 to 4% in 2025. ___ The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
The Independent
2 minutes ago
- The Independent
Amazon Web Services to provide US government $1B in savings
The General Services Administration (GSA) has announced an agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) projected to save the government $1 billion by the end of 2028. This partnership aims to modernize federal agencies by facilitating the adoption of cloud technology, advanced AI, and providing essential training. GSA Acting Administrator Michael Rigas confirmed the deal, stating it is part of the administration's OneGov Strategy, which focuses on government procurement. The agreement emerges as tech companies, including Amazon, have sought to align with the administration, with Amazon having contributed $1 million to the president's inauguration committee. In a separate initiative, GSA also partnered with Google, securing a temporary 71 percent price reduction for Google Workspace for federal agencies.
