Summary
- Witkoff visit helped resolve misunderstandings, Russia says
- US seizes sanctioned oil tanker off Venezuela coast
- IEA trims its 2026 market surplus forecast
(Reuters) – Oil prices eased on Thursday as investors shifted focus back to Russia-Ukraine peace talks and monitored potential fallout from a U.S. seizure of a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.
Brent crude futures were down 69 cents, or 1.1%, at $61.52 a barrel at 1302 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 67 cents, or 1.2%, to $57.79 a barrel.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that a visit to Moscow this month by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff had resolved misunderstandings between the two countries.
He added that Moscow had handed over Russia’s proposals on collective security guarantees to Washington.
The benchmarks settled higher a day earlier after the U.S. said it seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, as escalating tensions between the two countries raised concerns about supply disruptions.
“So far, the seizure has not trickled down to the market, but further escalation will impose heavy crude price volatility,” said Emril Jamil, a senior oil analyst at LSEG.
“The market remains in limbo, eyeing the Russian-Ukraine peace deal progress.”
On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said “we’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, large tanker, very large, largest one ever, actually, and other things are happening.”
Trump administration officials did not name the vessel. British maritime risk management group Vanguard said the tanker, Skipper, was believed to have been seized off Venezuela.
Traders and industry sources said Asian buyers are demanding steep discounts on Venezuelan crude, pressured by a surge of sanctioned oil from Russia and Iran and heightened loading risks in the South American country as the U.S. boosts its military presence in the Caribbean.
Investors were more focused on developments in Russia-Ukraine peace talks. The leaders of Britain, France and Germany held a call with Trump to discuss Washington’s latest peace efforts to end the war in Ukraine, in what they said was a “critical moment” in the process.
Ukrainian drones struck an oil rig belonging to Russia in the Caspian Sea for the first time, halting the facility’s extraction of oil and gas, a source at the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told Reuters on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency upgraded its 2026 global oil demand growth forecasts while trimming its supply growth predictions in its latest monthly oil market report on Thursday, implying a slightly narrower surplus next year.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries which also released its monthly report on Thursday kept its forecasts for 2025 and 2026 world oil demand growth unchanged.
In other news, a sharply divided Federal Reserve reduced its benchmark interest rate. Lower rates can reduce consumer borrowing costs and boost economic growth and oil demand.
Additional reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru and Jeslyn Lerh in Singapore; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle, Alexandra Hudson
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