After Its First Weekly Drop This Month.. Stability in Oil Prices

SadaNews - Oil prices stabilized with minimal changes following their first weekly drop this month, as markets focused on the advancement of U.S. trade talks, including with the European Union, and the bloc's efforts to curb Russian energy exports.

Brent crude held steady near $69 per barrel after falling 1.5% last week, while West Texas Intermediate crude remained above the $67 level.

EU envoys are expected to meet soon this week to draft a plan to deal with a "no deal" scenario with U.S. President Donald Trump, whose negotiating position on tariffs is viewed as having become more stringent ahead of the August 1 deadline.

At the end of last week, the European bloc of 27 countries agreed to lower the price cap on Russian oil as part of a new sanctions package against Moscow.

The measures include restrictions on fuel made from Russian oil, additional constraints on the banking sector, as well as a ban on a major oil refinery in India. The United Kingdom has joined the EU's efforts.

Robert Rennie, head of commodity and carbon research at Westpac Bank, said: "The fact that the U.S. has not yet supported the new price cap set by the EU will make it difficult to implement."

However, he added that the "EU's ban on Friday of imports of petroleum products manufactured from Russian crude will increase supply tightness in the West."

Prices Under Pressure from Trump's Trade War

Since the beginning of May, oil prices have been trending upward, but Brent crude is still down about 7% since the start of the year, amid President Trump's escalation of the trade war and OPEC+'s easing of supply restrictions.

Prices have experienced significant volatility due to developments in the Middle East, alongside sanctions imposed on producers like Russia and Iran.

In Europe, the price difference between diesel fuel and crude oil, an indicator of the profitability of fuel production, approached its highest level since March 2024, while the time spread between the two nearest diesel futures contracts rose on Friday, reinforcing the bullish market structure known as "backwardation".