Oil Extends Bullish Run Despite Macron Announcing Russia/U.S Summit

Uncertainty surrounding the Russia-Ukraine crisis continues to dictate prices of crude oil even as Iran announced significant progress in the ongoing U.S-Iran Nuclear talks.

Brent crude oil, against which Nigeria’s oil is priced, rebounded from $90.21 a barrel it attained on Friday to $94.04 on Monday at 1:01 pm Nigerian time. The U.S West Texas Intermediate oil was hovering around $90.24 a barrel as at the time of writing.

On Monday French President, Emmanuel Macron announced that Russian President and the United States President Joe Biden had agreed in principle to a summit over Ukraine. The announcement led to the pullback recorded in the early hours of Asian trading session.

However, the uncertainty surrounding the announcement after Kremlin said there were no immediate plans for a meeting bolstered prices as crude oil experts argued that the Iran-U.S agreement won’t be enough to offset the deficit as it will take months for the country to attain maximum production capacity.

“The weekend brought a sharp deterioration in the Ukraine situation, setting the stage for a spike in crude at market open,” Vandana Hari, CEO of Vanda Insights, said. “But that bullishness is now being reined in by reports that last-ditch attempts at a diplomatic solution have also reached fever pitch.”

“The standoff is now at the height of volatility, and crude’s roller-coaster may have some way to go before coming to a halt.”