Oil Slips on Ukraine Summit Plan

Oil prices fell on Monday on a plan for U.S. President Joe Biden and Russia’s Vladimir Putin to hold a summit on the Ukraine crisis and on prospects of a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in the next week or two.

The office of French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement on Monday he had pitched to both leaders a summit over “security and strategic stability in Europe.” The White House said Biden had accepted the meeting “in principle” but only “if an invasion hasn’t happened.”

Brent crude futures fell 73 cents or 0.8% to $92.81 at 0224 GMT after having jumped more $1 than to $95.00 in early trade, its highest level since Wednesday.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures similarly fell 52 cents or 0.6% to $90.55 a barrel after having hit a high of $92.93.

Oil markets have been jittery over the past month on worries a Russian invasion of its neighbour could disrupt crude supplies, but price gains have been limited by the possibility of more than 1 million barrels a day of Iranian crude returning to the market.

A senior European Union official said on Friday a deal to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement was “very very close”.

Analysts said the market remained tight, and any addition of oil would help, but prices would remain volatile in the near term as Iranian crude would only likely return later this year.

“There’s just so many pressures geopolitically it’s difficult to know what the answer is (on market movements) – with Ukraine and Iran,” said National Australia Bank commodity analyst Baden Moore.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russia would be cut off from international financial markets and denied access to major exports needed to modernise its economy if it invaded Ukraine.

“If a Russian invasion takes place as the U.S. and U.K. have warned in recent days, Brent futures could spike above $US100/bbl, even if an Iranian deal is reached,” Commonwealth Bank analyst Vivek Dhar said in a note.