Oil prices rise over U.S. demand

Oil prices rose 1% on Thursday, August 7, 2025, over signs of steady demand in the United States.

Brent crude futures rose 62 cents, or 0.9%, to $67.51 a barrel by 0342 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $65.03 a barrel, up 68 cents, or 1.1%.

Both benchmarks slid about 1% to their lowest in eight weeks on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump’s remarks about progress in talks with Moscow.

Trump could meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin as soon as next week, a White House official told Reuters on Wednesday. Though the U.S. continued preparations to impose secondary sanctions, including potentially on China, to pressure Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.

Russia is the world’s second-biggest producer of crude oil after the United States.

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Still, oil markets were supported from a bigger-than-expected draw in U.S. crude inventories last week.

The Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell by 3 million barrels to 423.7 million barrels in the week ended August 1, exceeding analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 591,000-barrel draw.

Inventories fell as U.S. crude exports climbed and refinery runs climbed, with utilization on the Gulf Coast, the country’s biggest refining region, and the West Coast climbing to their highest since 2023.

Analysts at JP Morgan said in a statement that global oil demand through August 5 has averaged 104.7 million barrels per day, tracking annual growth of 300,000 bpd, but 90,000 bpd below their forecast for the month.

The Star