Crude Oil Gains 1% on Possible End to Russia-Ukraine War

By Adedapo Adesanya

Crude oil went up by about 1 per cent on Friday as investors considered the prospects of an end to the three-year Russia-Ukraine war, which could bring back more Russian energy supplies to the markets.

During the session, Brent crude futures gained 70 cents or 1 per cent to trade at $70.58 per barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude grew by 1 per cent or 63 cents to $67.18 a barrel.

Russian President, Mr Vladimir Putin, said on Thursday that the country supported a US proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine in principle, but sought a number of clarifications and conditions that appeared to rule out a quick end to the fighting.

On Friday, President Trump again urged Russia to agree to a ceasefire proposal, saying on his private social media platform that he would extract the US.

The Trump administration had said a licence allowing energy transactions with Russian financial institutions expired this week.

Market analysts noted that the prospect for a ceasefire continues to be pushed into the future, adding that the market would expect Russian oil to be under sanctions for an extended period of time,

More supply worries came as the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned on Thursday that global oil supply could exceed demand by around 600,000 barrels per day this year, due to growth led by the US and weaker-than-expected global demand.

However, macroeconomic conditions caused by escalating trade tensions between the US and other nations prompted the Paris-based agency to cut its demand growth estimates for the last quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of this year.

World oil demand is now expected to rise by 1.03 million barrels per day in 2025, the IEA said on Thursday, down 70,000 barrels per day from last month’s forecast, with growth driven largely by Asia and specifically China.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) decided earlier this month to start unwinding its most recent layer of output cuts from April.

The 2025 surplus could grow by a further 400,000 barrels per day if OPEC+ extends its unwinding of cuts and fails to rein in overproduction, the IEA said.

Meanwhile, the number of oil rigs edged up by one this week in the US, services company Baker Hughes said.