Oil prices hold steady on expected minimal sanctions impact
Brent crude futures dropped 12 cents, or 0.2%, to $69.16 a barrel by 0800 GMT after settling 0.35% down on Friday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was flat at $67.34 after a 0.3% decline in the previous session.
The European Union on Friday approved the 18th package of sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine, which also targeted India's Nayara Energy, an exporter of oil products refined from Russian crude.
"The latest round of EU sanctions aren't necessarily going to change the oil balance. That's why the market is not reacting much," said Harry Tchiliguirian at Onyx Capital Group. "Russians have been very good at circumventing these kinds of sanctions."
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Russia had built up a certain immunity to Western sanctions.
The EU sanctions followed U.S. President Donald Trump's threats last week to impose sanctions on buyers of Russian exports unless Russia agrees to a peace deal within 50 days.
ING analysts said the part of the package likely to have an impact is the EU import ban on refined oil products processed from Russian oil in third countries, though it said it could prove difficult to monitor and enforce.
Iran, another sanctioned oil producer, is due to hold nuclear talks with Britain, France and Germany in Istanbul 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 U.S., the number of operating oil rigs fell by two to 422 last week, the lowest total since September 2021, Baker Hughes said on Friday.
U.S. tariffs on European Union imports are set to kick in on August 1, though U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday that he was confident the United States could secure a trade deal with the bloc.
"Tariff concerns will continue to weigh in the lead up to the August 1 deadline, while some support may come from oil inventory data if it shows tight supply," said IG market analyst Tony Sycamore.
"It feels very much like a $64-$70 range in play for the week ahead."
Brent crude futures have traded between a low of $66.34 a barrel and a high of $71.53 after a ceasefire deal on June 24 halted the 12-day Israel-Iran war.
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Telegraph
2 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Xi Jinping can't afford for Russia to make peace in Ukraine
Of particular importance is China's role as an enabler of Russia's drone warfare campaign, a combat tactic that has been the hallmark of the war in Ukraine. Russia is believed to import millions of dollars worth of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from China each year, in addition to producing UAVs jointly with Chinese firms inside Russia. Intelligence assessments suggest that Russia established a secret UAV factory in China through IEMZ Kupol, a subsidiary of Russian state-owned arms company Almaz-Antey, where engineers developed and flight-tested a new model of a long-range combat drone called Garpiya-3 (G3). Helping to fuel the Russian wartime economy, China (along with India) has been a top importer of Russian oil, having accounted for 47 per cent of Russia's crude oil exports in June 2025. Much of Russia's oil exports are transported by a shadow fleet of unmarked tankers in order to bypass the sanctions regime. Last week, Beijing rebuffed US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's threat of a 100 per cent tariff if it continues this practice. Further aligning itself with Moscow against the US, China has set out to increase gas imports from Russia, while cutting liquefied natural gas purchases from the US. Why is China so invested in assisting Russia's fight against Ukraine? Beijing's rationale can be illustrated by the following Chinese allegory. 'As two tigers are fighting ferociously in the valley, a sage monkey is sitting on top of the mountain, looking down and waiting to see how it will end.' Beijing sees itself as the wise monkey, waiting patiently as Moscow and Washington erode their respective combat arsenals. Indeed, although China and Russia publicly portray themselves as allies, having declared a 'no limits partnership' in 2022, they are in fact strategic opponents, linked in an opportunistic relationship aimed at achieving the common goal of limiting US and Western geopolitical dominance. China and Russia have had multiple border clashes during their turbulent history and to this day maintain a territorial dispute in Russia's Far East. Demographically declining, Russia views decades-long migration of Chinese citizens into its Far East region as a grave threat. Putin warned as far back as 2000 that if Russia did not undertake the 'real effort' to develop its Far East in the short term, then 'a few decades from now its Russian population will mostly be speaking Japanese, Chinese, and Korean'. China is incentivised to prolong the conflict in Ukraine by its desire to reduce the US weapons stockpile, which has already been depleted to dangerous levels as a result of US assistance to Ukraine and to Israel. China sees the erosion of American combat readiness as crucial in preventing the US from intervening in China's future invasion of Taiwan, which some US military commanders assess as probable around 2027. For Beijing, fulfilling its 'One China' grand plan by 2049 by securing control over Taiwan is likely to take priority over maintaining a transactional relationship and avoiding a trade war with Washington. Thus far, Russia has largely brushed off President Trump's various manoeuvres. Beijing, meanwhile, has been conducting joint Chinese-Russian naval exercises in the Sea of Japan. The signal from Moscow and Beijing to Washington is clear – peace in Ukraine is counter to both of their agendas.
Reuters
2 minutes ago
- Reuters
Trump could meet Putin over Ukraine as soon as next week, official says
WASHINGTON/MOSCOW, Aug 6 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump could meet Vladimir Putin as soon as next week, a White House official said on Wednesday, as the U.S. maintained plans to impose secondary sanctions on Friday in an effort to pressure Moscow to end the war in Ukraine. Such a face-to-face meeting would be the first between a sitting U.S. and Russian president since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021, some eight months before Russia launched the biggest attack on a European nation since World War Two by invading Ukraine. Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy have not met since December 2019 and make no secret of their contempt for each other. The New York Times reported that Trump told European leaders during a call on Wednesday that he intends to meet with Putin and then follow up with a trilateral involving the Russian leader and Zelenskiy. "The Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the President is open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelenskiy," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, responding to the report. A Trump-Putin meeting could take place as soon as next week, the White House official said. A German government spokesperson said Trump provided information about the status of the talks with Russia during a call with the German chancellor and other European heads of government. The details emerged following a meeting on Wednesday between Putin and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff that Trump said had achieved "great progress." It comes two days before a deadline set by Trump for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or face new sanctions. Trump has been increasingly frustrated with Putin over the lack of progress towards peace and has threatened to impose heavy tariffs on countries that buy Russian exports, including oil. The White House official said that while the meeting had gone well and Moscow was eager to continue engaging with the United States, secondary sanctions that Trump has threatened against countries doing business with Russia were still expected to be implemented on Friday. No details were provided. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox Business' "Kudlow" later on Wednesday that more had to be done to reach an agreement between the parties. "Today was a good day, but we got a lot of work ahead," he said. "There's still many impediments to overcome, and we hope to do that over the next few days and hours." A Kremlin aide earlier said Witkoff held "useful and constructive" talks with Putin on Wednesday. The two met for around three hours on a last-minute mission to seek a breakthrough in the 3-1/2-year war that began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said the two sides had exchanged "signals" on the Ukraine issue and discussed the possibility of developing strategic cooperation between Moscow and Washington, but declined to give more details until Witkoff had reported back to Trump. Zelenskiy said he believed pressure had worked on Russia and Moscow was now more amenable to a ceasefire. "It seems that Russia is now more inclined to a ceasefire. The pressure on them works. But the main thing is that they do not deceive us in the details – neither us nor the U.S.," Zelenskiy said in his nightly address. Writing separately on the X social media platform, Zelenskiy said he had discussed Witkoff's visit to Russia with Trump, adding that he had reiterated Ukraine's support for a just peace and its continued determination to defend itself. "Ukraine will definitely defend its independence. We all need a lasting and reliable peace. Russia must end the war that it itself started," Zelenskiy said, adding that European leaders had joined the call with Trump. Trump on Truth Social said he had updated some of Washington's European allies following Witkoff's meeting. Trump took a key step toward punitive measures on Wednesday when he imposed an additional 25% tariff on imports from India, citing New Delhi's continued imports of Russian oil. No similar order was signed for China, which also imports Russian oil. The new measure raises tariffs on some Indian goods to as high as 50% — among the steepest faced by any U.S. trading partner. The Kremlin says threats to penalise countries that trade with Russia are illegal. Ushakov, who was present at the meeting, told Russian news outlet Zvezda that "signals" on Ukraine were exchanged by both sides. Bloomberg and independent Russian news outlet The Bell reported that the Kremlin might propose a moratorium on airstrikes by Russia and Ukraine - an idea mentioned last week by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko during a meeting with Putin. Such a move, if agreed, would fall well short of the full and immediate ceasefire that Ukraine and the U.S. have been seeking for months. But it would offer some relief to both sides. Since the two sides resumed direct peace talks in May, Russia has carried out its heaviest air attacks of the war, killing at least 72 people in the capital Kyiv alone. Trump last week called the Russian attacks "disgusting." Ukraine continues to strike Russian refineries and oil depots, which it has hit many times. Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Zelenskiy, said on Wednesday that a full ceasefire and a leaders' summit were required. "The war must stop and for now this is on Russia," he posted on Telegram. Putin is unlikely to bow to Trump's sanctions ultimatum because he believes he is winning the war and his military goals take precedence over his desire to improve relations with the U.S., three sources close to the Kremlin have told Reuters. The Russian sources told Reuters that Putin was sceptical that yet more U.S. sanctions would have much of an impact after successive waves of economic penalties during 3-1/2 years of war.
Reuters
2 minutes ago
- Reuters
Lyft misses quarterly revenue estimates on competition, weak US travel demand
Aug 6 (Reuters) - Lyft (LYFT.O), opens new tab missed second-quarter revenue estimates on Wednesday, pressured by mounting competition from Uber and softening U.S. travel demand, sending its shares down 7% in after-hours trading. Larger rival Uber Technologies (UBER.N), opens new tab, which offers ride-hailing, food and grocery delivery business globally, beat revenue estimates and issued an upbeat forecast for the third-quarter earlier in the day. Demand for travel to the U.S. has fallen this year, and analysts expect the slump to continue through 2025 as economic uncertainty, trade tensions and visa backlogs make the country less appealing to international visitors. Lyft, which is expanding beyond its North America, posted revenue of $1.59 billion in the second quarter, missing estimates of $1.61 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Rides on its platform grew 14% to a record high of 234.8 million, slightly below estimates of 235.9 million, according to 27 analysts polled by Visible Alpha. Lyft recently completed its nearly $200 million acquisition of European mobility platform FreeNow and has signed a deal with China's Baidu ( opens new tab to introduce the search engine giant's robotaxis in the region. Meanwhile, Uber, which has 20 global partnerships for self-driving technology, said it was in talks with private equity firms and banks to finance the deployment of robotaxis. Lyft on Wednesday also announced a partnership, set to launch later this year, with United Airlines (UAL.O), opens new tab that will allow the carrier's customers to earn rewards on all Lyft rides. With partnerships including DoorDash (DASH.O), opens new tab and Chase already in place, Lyft's entry into Europe positions the company to extend such collaborations into international markets. Lyft said it expects gross bookings to be between $4.65 billion and $4.80 billion for the third quarter, well above estimates of $4.59 billion. The company also reported earnings of 10 cents per share for the June quarter, more than double analysts' expectations of 4 cents. With growth stagnating in major U.S. metros, ride-hailing companies are shifting their focus to medium and smaller car-dependent cities to tap into new markets and drive revenue. Lyft recorded an adjusted core earnings of $129.4 million in the second quarter, above the average estimate of $124.5 million. It forecast current-quarter core earnings of $125 million to $145 million, largely in line with Wall Street estimates.
