Africa-Press – Lesotho. Crude prices moved higher in early Monday trade, with macro tailwinds from a more dovish U.S. Federal Reserve and fresh supply jitters after Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. The U.S. Benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), climbed to its highest in three weeks, while Brent crude has pushed above $68 per barrel as traders priced a possible September rate cut following Jerome Powell’s remarks last week.
By 12:17 pm ET, Brent was up 1.71% at $68.89, with WTI gaining 1.95% to $64.90 on expectations of easing monetary policy. Investors continued to reference Powell’s signal that the Fed could begin cutting rates as soon as its next meeting, according to Reuters.
On the supply side, Kyiv’s latest long?range strikes hit export?linked Russian assets. Russian officials reported a major blaze at the Ust?Luga fuel terminal on the Baltic and a continuing fire at the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in the Rostov region, a plant with capacity near 100,000 barrels per day and geared largely to exports. The attacks extended a months?long campaign that has repeatedly forced repairs and temporary curtailments at oil and product sites. Reuters
“The market is somewhat concerned that these peace negotiations are going nowhere,” Reuters cited Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, as saying, Hansen added that expectations for a seasonal surplus “are being challenged by a potential geopolitical disruption” in the near term. His comments came as desks weighed both the refinery outages and the prospect of additional U.S. sanctions pressure if ceasefire efforts stall.
Some analysts cautioned that momentum remains fragile despite the bounce. “Both benchmark oil prices … appear to lack momentum,” said Priyanka Sachdeva at brokerage Phillip Nova, pointing to concerns that tariff risks could slow growth even as looser financial conditions support demand.
Reuters
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