logo
Global factors keep oil prices range-bound

Global factors keep oil prices range-bound

Shafaq News4 days ago
Shafaq News
Oil prices were little changed on Monday as traders assess the impact of new European sanctions on Russian oil supplies while they also worry about tariffs possibly weakening fuel demand as Middle East producers are raising output.
Brent crude futures climbed 6 cents to $69.34 a barrel by 0344 GMT after settling 0.35% lower on Friday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $67.51 a barrel, up 17 cents, following a 0.30% decline 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.
The EU sanctions followed U.S. President Donald Trump's threats last week to impose sanctions on buyers of Russian exports unless Russia agrees a peace deal in 50 days.
ING analysts said the lack of reaction showed the oil market is not convinced by the effectiveness of these sanctions.
"However, the part of the package likely to have the biggest market impact is the EU imposing an import ban on refined oil products processed from Russian oil in third countries," the analysts led by Warren Patterson said.
"But clearly, it will be challenging to monitor crude oil inputs into refineries in these countries and, as a result, enforce the ban."
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 U.S., the number of operating oil rigs fell by two to 422 last week, the lowest since September 2021, Baker Hughes said on Friday.
U.S. tariffs on European Union imports are set to kick in on August 1, although U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday he was confident the United States could secure a trade deal with the bloc.
"U.S. tariff concerns will continue to weigh in the lead up to August 1 deadline, while some support may come from oil inventory data if it shows tight supply," IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said.
"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.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

ICC convicts pair over Central Africa war crimes
ICC convicts pair over Central Africa war crimes

Iraqi News

time2 hours ago

  • Iraqi News

ICC convicts pair over Central Africa war crimes

The Hague – The International Criminal Court Thursday convicted a former top Central African Republic football official and a militiaman nicknamed Rambo for multiple war crimes committed during the country's civil war in 2013 and 2014. Ex-sports minister Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona was a senior leader of mainly Christian militias as the country slid into civil war, while Alfred Yekatom, a former MP, commanded them on the ground. The ICC sentenced Yekatom to 15 years behind bars for 20 war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder and torture. Ngaissona received a sentence of 12 years for 28 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Their militia, known as anti-Balaka or 'anti-machete', were formed as vigilante self-defence groups after mainly Muslim rebels called the Seleka stormed the capital Bangui and removed then-president Francois Bozize, a Christian. Presiding judge Bertram Schmitt read harrowing details of the violence committed by the militia against suspected Seleka Muslims. Yekatom's men tortured one suspect by cutting off his fingers, toes, and one ear. This man's body was never found. Others were killed and then mutilated. Appearing in court dressed in a light brown suit and waistcoat, white shirt, and dark tie, Yekatom listened impassively as the judge read out the verdict. Dressed in a bright blue jacket, Ngaissona nodded to the judge as his sentence was delivered. The court found Yekatom not guilty of conscripting child soldiers and acquitted Ngaissona of the charge of rape. Both men had pleaded not guilty to all charges. Yekatom was extradited to The Hague in late 2018, after being arrested in the CAR for firing his gun in parliament. Ngaissona was arrested in France in December 2018 and extradited to The Hague. At the time he was head of the CAR football association and a board member of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The Central African Republic is among the poorest nations in the world and has endured a succession of civil wars and authoritarian governments since independence in 1960. Violence has subsided in recent years but fighting occasionally erupts in remote regions between rebels and the national army, which is backed by Russian mercenaries and Rwandan troops. Set up in 2002, the ICC is the world's only independent tribunal capable of prosecuting those accused of the world's worst crimes.

First half net profit plunges 22% at French luxury group LVMH
First half net profit plunges 22% at French luxury group LVMH

Iraqi News

time2 hours ago

  • Iraqi News

First half net profit plunges 22% at French luxury group LVMH

Paris – French luxury group LVMH saw net profit plummet 22 percent in the first half of 2025, the company announced Thursday, blaming the plunge on an 'unsettled economic and geopolitical' backdrop. Though sales fell four percent to just under 40 billion euros (47 billion dollars), chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault insisted that LVMH 'is demonstrating its resilience in the current context'. The producer of Louis Vuitton bags and Dom Perignon champagne has been hit especially hard by US President Donald Trump's threat of tariffs, as it generates a quarter of its revenue in the United States. In the wake of the US president's April 2 'Liberation Day' tariff announcements, Arnault, Europe's richest man, saw Hermes overtake LVMH as the world's most valuable luxury company. Trump imposed a 10-percent tariff on imports from around the world that month, but he delayed higher duties on dozens of other countries, with an August 1 deadline to strike trade deals or face tougher levies looming. 'We are approaching the second half of the year with great vigilance, and I am confident in LVMH's formidable long-term potential,' Arnault, who was present at Trump's second inauguration in January, said in Thursday's press release. Though LVMH has likewise been hit by a trade dispute over European brandy exports to China, a key market for its Hennessy cognac, Chief Financial Officer Cecile Cabanis said the group had seen 'improved demand from the Chinese in China'. But 'currency exchange effects have led to an extremely sharp drop in demand' from Chinese tourists visiting Japan, she told the press. Both the wine and spirits and fashion departments posted eight-percent drops in revenue, to 2.6 and 19 billion euros respectively. The former was weighed down by 'the impact on customers of trade tensions weighing on the key US and Chinese markets', the results announcement added.

Russian attack kills displaced Ukrainian family, officials say
Russian attack kills displaced Ukrainian family, officials say

Iraqi News

time2 hours ago

  • Iraqi News

Russian attack kills displaced Ukrainian family, officials say

Odesa – A Russian overnight attack on the border region of Kharkiv killed three members of a Ukrainian family who had earlier fled their homes to escape Russian advances, authorities announced Thursday. Moscow has stepped up its drone and missile attacks on Ukraine more than three years into Russia's invasion, even as the warring parties meet for face-to-face ceasefire talks. 'The bodies of three people were found under the rubble of the house. A family was killed: a 57-year-old woman, her 58-year-old husband and their 36-year-old son,' regional officials announced. They added the family killed in the village of Pidlyman had fled the settlement of Boguslavka which was captured by Russian forces when they invaded in early 2022, but was later retaken by Ukrainian forces. A strike later on Kharkiv city wounded 33 people, including a 10-year-old girl, a 17-year-old boy and girl, the governor said. A separate Russian drone and missile barrage wounded seven people including a child in the central Ukrainian region of Cherkasy, emergency services said. And in the southern port city of Odesa, a Russian drone attack wounded four people and badly damaged a market. Ukraine's prime minister said some of the buildings targeted were UNESCO protected. 'Russia continues its terror and obstructs diplomacy, which is why it deserves full-scale sanctions responses, as well as our strikes on their logistics, their military bases, and their military production facilities,' President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social media in response. He said Russia had launched 103 drones — mainly the Iranian designed Shahed type of unmanned aerial vehicle — and four missiles. In Russia, a Ukrainian drone strike left two women dead and several others wounded in Sochi in Russia's south, regional authorities said. The Russian defence ministry said its air defence systems had downed 39 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles mainly over southern regions of the country.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store