Oil prices rose on Wednesday amid renewed supply concerns following U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on India for continuing to purchase oil from Russia.
As of 10:44 a.m. local time (0744 GMT), international benchmark Brent crude increased by 0.74% to $67.97 per barrel, up from $67.47 in the previous session. Meanwhile, the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed 0.72% to $65.04 per barrel, compared to $64.57 previously.
The uptick in prices comes as Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, arrived in Moscow for talks related to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Russian state media outlet RT confirmed the visit, while Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said a direct meeting with President Vladimir Putin was still under consideration.
Witkoff’s visit precedes a Friday deadline set by Trump, who has warned of sweeping new sanctions, including 100% tariffs and secondary sanctions targeting Russia’s trade partners if meaningful progress on a Ukraine ceasefire is not achieved.
Trump previously stated that any decision regarding additional sanctions would depend on the outcomes of Witkoff’s meetings in Moscow. Over the weekend, he also took to social media to criticise India, accusing it of benefiting from reselling Russian oil and vowing to “substantially raise” tariffs on Indian goods.
“They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine,” Trump wrote. “Because of this, I will be substantially raising the Tariff paid by India to the USA.”
Additional support for rising oil prices came from data suggesting a decline in U.S. crude inventories. According to figures from the American Petroleum Institute, U.S. commercial crude stocks dropped by 4.2 million barrels last week, pointing to a rebound in demand.
Official inventory figures are expected later on Wednesday from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
In a separate development, OPEC and its allies (OPEC+) announced that eight member states would increase oil output by a total of 547,000 barrels per day in September compared to August, in a bid to recover global market share.
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Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has slowed, according to the latest data, as uncertainty over the waterway’s reopening kept most shipowners away. Six commodity vessels crossed the strait on Tuesday, down from nine the day before and below the 10-day daily average of 11.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains limited on Thursday, with no increase in vessel crossings as U.S.-Iran talks to resolve the conflict remained stalled. Nine commodity vessels transited the key waterway on Wednesday, unchanged from the previous day, according to Kpler data.
Iran has said the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the U.S. fulfils the terms of an interim deal, including lifting the maritime blockade and sanctions and releasing Iran’s frozen assets.
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