Oil prices little changed as investors eye impact of new sanctions on Russia
Brent crude futures rose 5 cents to US$69.33 a barrel by 0040 GMT after settling 0.35 per cent higher on Friday. US West Texas Intermediate crude was at US$67.36 a barrel, up 2 cents, following a 0.30 per cent gain in the previous session.
The European Union approved on Friday the 18th package of sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, which also targeted India's Nayara Energy, an exporter of oil products refined from Russian crude.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Russia had built up a certain immunity to Western sanctions.
Rosneft, Russia's biggest oil producer with a stake in Nayara, on Sunday criticised the sanctions as unjustified and illegal, saying the restrictions directly threatened India's energy security.
Iran, another sanctioned oil producer, is due to hold nuclear talks in Istanbul with Britain, France and Germany on Friday, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Monday. That follows warnings by the three European countries that a failure to resume negotiations would lead to international sanctions being reimposed on Iran.
In the US, the number of operating oil rigs fell by two to 422 last week, the lowest since September 2021, Baker Hughes said on Friday.
Separately, US tariffs on imports from the European Union are set to kick in on August 1, although US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday he was confident the United States could secure a trade deal with the bloc.
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