Putin quenches Trump’s fire in the oil market
Sopuruchi Onwuka
All the market sentiments and related price movements associated with high stake peace meeting between President Donald Trump of the United States and Russian President Vladimir Putin went cold after the American president came from the meeting without convincing his Russian counterpart to shift an inch.
Besides, President Trump did not announce any penal measure on Russia but instead eased the tension surrounding Russian oil exports.
Pundits had reported thin trading liquidity, rangebound price movements, and total focus on the weekend’s Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska as the highlights of market activities last week.
The ICE Brent traded around the $66 per barrel mark, and LNG prices shed some $0.50/MMBtu as gas traders seem to expect some semblance of a deal coming through on the Ukraine war.
Sources stated that every attention in the market was devoted to the Alaska meeting.
Reports from Alaska hold that President Donald Trump emerged from the meeting more sober than sabers; appealing to Ukraine to grant Russia’s demands for greater parts of land than already captured in the devastating war.
Russia already controls a fifth of Ukraine, including about three-quarters of Donetsk province, which it first entered in 2014.
The diffusion of market tension as Trump departed Alaska without a strong outcome also transferred similar effect on the oil market where Russia and her crude oil buyers appear to have been relieved of potential sanctions.
Consequently, India’s state-owned refiners IOC, HPCL and BPCL have reportedly restarted their purchases of Russian oil after discounts for the Russian flagship Urals grade widened to almost -$3 per barrel to Dubai, shedding almost $2 per barrel since July differentials peaked.
