Oil prices were little changed on Monday as traders assessed the impact of new European sanctions on Russian oil supplies and feared that tariffs could reduce fuel demand due to increased production in the Middle East, UNN reports with reference to Reuters.
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Brent crude futures rose 6 cents to $69.34 a barrel by 03:44 GMT (06:44 Kyiv time) after falling 0.35% on Friday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures traded at $67.51 a barrel, up 17 cents after falling 0.30% in the previous session.
On Friday, the EU approved the 18th package of sanctions against Russia in connection with Russia's war against Ukraine, which also affected the Indian company Nayara Energy, an exporter of oil products derived from Russian oil.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Russia had developed a certain immunity to Western sanctions.
The EU sanctions followed threats by U.S. President Donald Trump last week to impose sanctions on buyers of Russian export products if Russia failed to reach a peace agreement within 50 days.
ING analysts note that the lack of reaction indicates that the oil market is not confident in the effectiveness of these sanctions.
"However, the part of the package that is likely to have the biggest impact on the market is the EU ban on imports of oil products derived from Russian oil in third countries," said analysts led by Warren Patterson.
"However, it will obviously be difficult to control the flow of crude oil to refineries in these countries and, as a result, to enforce the ban," they pointed out.
Iran, another sanctioned oil producer, is to hold nuclear talks with Britain, France and Germany in Istanbul on Friday, an Iranian foreign ministry official said on Monday. This came after the three European countries warned that a failure to resume talks would lead to a renewal of international sanctions against Iran.
In the U.S., the number of active oil rigs fell by two to 422 last week, the lowest since September 2021, Baker Hughes said on Friday.
The U.S. tariff on oil imports from the EU is due to take effect on August 1, although U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday that he was confident in the United States' ability to reach a trade deal with the bloc.
"U.S. tariff concerns will continue to weigh ahead of the August 1 deadline, although some support could come from oil inventory data if it shows limited supply," said IG market analyst Tony Sycamore.
"Perhaps a range of $64 to $70 is expected next week," he said.
Brent crude futures are trading in a range from a low of $66.34 a barrel to a high of $71.53 after a June 24 ceasefire agreement halted a 12-day war between Israel and Iran.