Oil prices held steady on Wednesday (August 27th), after falling in the previous session, as investors monitored the latest developments in the Ukraine war and weighed industry reports showing a decline in US crude inventories.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Tuesday that he would meet with Ukrainian representatives in New York this week, adding that Washington was also negotiating with Russia to try to end the war.

Brent crude futures fell 4 cents to $67.18 a barrel at 08:20 GMT, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 3 cents to $63.22. Both contracts fell more than 2% on Tuesday after starting the week at their highest levels since early August.

Crude prices received some support on Wednesday from the American Petroleum Institute's weekly supply report, which market sources said showed US crude, gasoline, and distillate inventories fell last week. Official inventory data will be released at 14:30 GMT. The API report helped stabilize prices, said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM.

In the latest development, Russian oil refineries have been hit by Ukrainian drone attacks, forcing them to export crude oil they cannot process. Russia has revised its planned crude exports from western ports by 200,000 barrels per day in August from the original schedule after last week's attacks, three people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. (alg)

Source: Reuters