Crude prices rebound on stalled Ukraine negotiations, China growth pledge
(Bloomberg) – Oil reversed Friday’s decline as U.S.-led talks to end the war in Ukraine failed to yield a breakthrough, and China vowed to support growth next year.
Brent traded near $62 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate topped $58. The U.S. has stepped up a push to end the war, but sticking points remain, highlighting the difficulty in reaching a deal. President Donald Trump said he made progress in talks on Sunday with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy at Mar-a-Lago. Zelenskiy said he asked Trump for 30 to 50 years of security guarantees.
Oil is still on track for a fifth monthly drop in December, which would be the longest run of declines in more than two years. Prices have been dragged lower by concerns about a global glut following supply increases from members of the OPEC+ cartel as well as nations outside the group. Geopolitical tensions from Venezuela to Nigeria have helped stem the slump in recent weeks.
On Ukraine, the fact there’s been no breakthrough lent some support to prices, said Gao Mingyu, chief energy analyst at China Futures Co., citing issues including the fate of the Donbas region that’s partially occupied by Russian forces. “It feels like there’s still back-and-forth ahead,” she said.
China, meanwhile, pledged to broaden its fiscal spending base next year, according to a statement from the Ministry of Finance on Sunday, signaling government support to drive growth. The world’s top crude importer has faced headwinds amid a property downturn and external pressures, including trade frictions with the US. At the same time, Beijing’s robust stockpiling of crude is expected to continue, helping to absorb the surplus.
In Venezuela, the Trump administration has imposed a partial maritime blockade in recent days, backed by the largest U.S. military deployment to the region in decades. Trump said in a radio interview that the U.S. had knocked out “a big facility” last week, an apparent reference to an attack on a drug-trafficking site, the New York Times reported.
