Oil firms while investors await next steps in Ukraine peace talks
Brent crude futures rose 50 cents to $66.29 a barrel by 0630 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for September delivery, set to expire on Wednesday, were at $62.80 a barrel, up 45 cents. The more active October contract was at $62.30 a barrel, up 53 cents.
Prices settled down more than 1% on Tuesday on optimism that a deal to end the war seemed closer, which would likely lead to an easing of sanctions on Russia and an increase in global supply.
However, despite comments from U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday that the U.S. might provide air support as part of security guarantees for Ukraine, he also conceded that Russian President Vladimir Putin might not want to make a deal.
"Crude markets are in limbo ... continued protracted peace talks will keep the market on its toes," said Emril Jamil, a senior analyst at LSEG.
Trump said on Monday he was arranging a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to be followed by a trilateral summit among the three presidents.
Russia has not confirmed it will take part in talks with Zelenskiy.
"The likelihood of a quick resolution to the conflict with Russia now seems unlikely," said Daniel Hynes, senior commodity strategist at ANZ, in a note on Wednesday.
In the U.S., BP (BP.L), opens new tab said on Tuesday operations at its 440,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Whiting, Indiana, were affected by flooding caused by a severe thunderstorm overnight, potentially weighing on the facility's crude demand. The site is a key fuel producer for the Midwest market.
Prices also found some support as an industry inventory report indicated steady crude and fuel demand in the United States, the world's biggest oil consumer.
U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 2.42 million barrels in the week ended August 15, market sources said on Tuesday, citing American Petroleum Institute figures.
Gasoline inventories fell by 956,000 barrels, while distillate inventories rose by 535,000 barrels from last week, the sources said.
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