Oil prices were largely unchanged on Monday, August 18, 2025, after a drop in early trade, as the United States exerted no further pressure on Russia to end the Ukraine war.
Brent crude futures dropped 6 cents, or 0.09%, to $65.79 a barrel by 0342 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $62.82 a barrel, up 2 cents, or 0.03%.
U.S. President Donald Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday and emerged more aligned with Moscow on seeking a peace deal instead of a ceasefire first.
Trump will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders on Monday to strike a quick peace deal to end Europe’s deadliest war in 80 years.
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On Friday, Trump said he did not immediately need to consider retaliatory tariffs on countries such as China for buying Russian oil but might have to “in two or three weeks”, cooling concerns about a disruption in Russian supply.
“A non-outcome was largely priced in, the market remains in wait-and-see, more in a bearish context, if more Russian barrels can arrive into the global crude supply pool should hostilities end in Ukraine,” said independent energy analyst Gaurav Sharma.
China, the world’s biggest oil importer, is the largest buyer of Russian oil, followed by India.
“What was primarily in play were the secondary tariffs targeting the key importers of Russian energy, and President Trump has indeed indicated that he will pause pursuing incremental action on this front, at least for China,” RBC Capital analyst Helima Croft said in a statement.
Investors are also watching for clues from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments at this week’s Jackson Hole meeting regarding the path of interest rate cuts that could boost stocks to further records.
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