LONDON: Oil prices edged lower on Monday after the U.S. pulled back from initial sanctions threats against Colombia, reducing immediate concern over oil supply disruptions, though U.S. President Donald Trump’s muscle-flexing is keeping markets twitchy.
Brent crude futures fell 40 cents, or 0.51%, to $78.10 a barrel by 1419 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was down 41 cents, or 0.55%, at $74.25.
The U.S. swiftly reversed plans to impose sanctions and tariffs on Colombia after the South American nation agreed to accept deported migrants from the United States, the White House said late on Sunday.
Colombia last year sent about 41% of its seaborne crude exports to the U.S., data from analytics firm Kpler shows.
“There is broad-based negative sentiment in the market. Even if the sanctions didn’t take place, this still creates nervousness that Trump will bully whoever needs to be bullied to get his way,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB.
Oil prices settle pennies higher, down for week as Trump touts energy policy
Gains were limited by Trump’s repeated call on Friday for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut oil prices to hurt oil-rich Russia’s finances and help end the war in Ukraine.
“One way to stop it quickly is for OPEC to stop making so much money and drop the price of oil … That war will stop right away,” Trump said.
Trump has also threatened to hit Russia “and other participating countries” with taxes, tariffs and sanctions if a deal to end the war in Ukraine is not struck soon.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that he and Trump should meet to talk about the Ukraine war and energy prices.
“They are positioning for negotiations,” said John Driscoll at Singapore-based consultancy JTD Energy, adding that this creates volatility in oil markets.
He added that oil markets are probably skewed a little bit to the downside, with Trump looking to boost U.S. output and try to secure overseas markets for U.S. crude.
“He’s going to want to muscle into some of the OPEC market share; so in that sense he’s kind of a competitor,” Driscoll said.
However, OPEC and its allies including Russia have yet to react to Trump’s call, with OPEC+ delegates pointing to a plan already in place to start raising oil output from April.
Elsewhere, Chinese manufacturing data on Monday was weaker than expected, adding fresh concerns over energy demand.
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