Oil Prices Slip But Remain On Track For Weekly Gain As Ukraine Uncertainty Lingers

Oil prices edged lower on Friday, but still headed toward weekly gains supported by uncertainty over the war in Ukraine.

Brent crude prices fell 0.6% to $68.21 per barrel at 4.04 a.m. ET, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude prices fell 0.4% to $64.33 per barrel. Both contracts remained on track to post weekly gains.

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits about the United States Oil Fund was still in the 'bearish' territory at the time of writing.

Traders view the upcoming U.S. Labor Day long weekend as the unofficial end of the summer driving season, marking the beginning of a downturn in gasoline demand in the U.S. Strong consumption in the U.S. has so far provided support to fuel prices, which have been pressured by an uptick in supplies from OPEC+ countries.

Goldman Sachs analysts projected this week that the oil surplus will widen, averaging 1.8 million barrels per day from the fourth quarter of 2025 to the end of 2026.

However, oil prices were supported by diminishing hopes of a quick end to the Ukraine War. On Thursday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that there will be no meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the near future.

Kyiv has increasingly targeted Russia's energy infrastructure over the past week, resulting in a fuel shortage in some areas. On Thursday, the supplies of Russian crude oil via the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia resumed following an outage caused by a Ukrainian attack on Russia.

Traders are also cautiously waiting for India's decision on its purchases of Russian oil, as the Trump administration has imposed a 50% tariff on the country for its trade with Moscow. According to a Reuters News report, while India has stepped up purchases of U.S. WTI oil, it has yet to stop buying Ural crude from Russia.

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