Oil Edges Down With Trade Talks, EU Curbs on Russia in Focus
Brent crude traded near $69 a barrel after falling 1.5% last week. EU envoys are set to meet as early as this week to formulate a plan to respond to a possible no-deal scenario with US President Donald Trump, whose position is seen to have stiffened ahead of an Aug. 1 deadline.
Late last week, the 27-nation bloc agreed on a package of sanctions against Moscow, including a lower price cap on the country's crude, curbs on fuels made from Russian petroleum and a ban on a large refinery in India. The UK joined the EU efforts.
Beijing — with two Chinese banks and other companies included in the sanctions — protested the EU measures and said it will take the necessary steps to resolutely 'safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese firms and financial institutions.'
China and India became the main buyers of Russian crude when global flows were reshaped following the Kremlin's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The shipments have so far not been impeded by western restrictions.
Oil has trended higher since early May, but Brent is still down about 7% this year as Trump ratchets up his trade war and OPEC relaxes supply curbs. Prices have been jolted by developments in the Middle East, as well as sanctions on crude from producers including Russia and Iran.
Diesel's price relative to crude in Europe, a gauge for profitability of producing the fuel, was near the highest since March 2024, while its prompt time spread — the difference between its closest two contracts — also rallied on Friday, widening its bullish backwardation structure.
To get Bloomberg's Energy Daily newsletter in your inbox, click here.
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
28 minutes ago
- First Post
Over 80% solar inverters Chinese-made, India moves to shield power grid from cyber risks
As more than 80% of rooftop solar inverters used in India are made in China, India has moved to shield them from cyber risks by mandating to connect such devices to a national software platform hosted on servers in India that will be managed by an Indian government agency. read more Valerii Pyndyk, head of a housing association board, appears on the roof of an apartment building, where solar panels were installed, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Nov. 14, 2024. (Representative Photo, Credit: Reuters) The Centre has issued guidelines to protect solar power equipment from potential cyberattacks and stop Indian data being used by bad actors abroad. As per a directive from the renewable ministry, suppliers of rooftop solar inverters will be required to connect these machines to a national software platform hosted on servers in India that will be managed by an Indian government agency, according to Bloomberg. The directive further said that all communication devices connected to such inverters will be required to use special SIM cards that let machines securely share data without human input. Notably, more than 80 per cent of such devices are made in China. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Inverter communication modules that transmit data to servers outside India not only pose risks of unauthorised control but also threaten national energy sovereignty by exposing sensitive consumption and generation data,' the renewable ministry said. Rooftop solar inverters are considered the most vulnerable part of the green power supply network due to limited technological safeguards, as per Bloomberg. In recent years, there have been concerns about electronic and renewable equipment's data-sharing aspects. As a large chunk of such equipment either comes in China and many companies use servers abroad, there are concerns that foreign bad actors could misuse the data or plant some vulnerability in the system or find a vulnerability by studying these systems. India is not the only country with such concerns. In May, Reuters reported that the United States was assessing the risk posed by Chinese inverters after unexplained communication devices was discovered inside some machines. In recent years, China has escalated cyberattacks on nations it treats as adversaries, such as the United States and India. It has particularly targeted critical sectors like energy and telecommunications, attacking power grids and mobile networks. There have also been concerns about Chinese smart devices, such as smartphones, being used by the Chinese regimes to spy on governments and people, that have led to some countries blocking Chinese companies like Huawei from their critical systems. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Time of India
28 minutes ago
- Time of India
Putin's Men ‘STORM' 2 More Donetsk Villages As Zelensky Quells Corruption Fire In Kyiv
Russian forces claimed to have liberated two key areas of Ukraine's Donetsk People's Republic. The Russian Defense Ministry announced the liberation of Novoekonomicheskoe and Zverevo in the direction of Pokrovsk. In a statement, the Russian MoD said, "On July 24, 2025, in the Krasnoarmeysk direction, as a result of offensive actions by the Center group of troops, the settlements of Novoekonomicheskoe and Zverevo of the Donetsk People's Republic were liberated." Watch this video to know more. Read More
Time of India
28 minutes ago
- Time of India
Nvidia AI chips worth $1 billion entered China despite US curbs: FT
Synopsis These Nvidia AI chips were reportedly smuggled to China in the three months following tighter US export controls, including high-end B200 processors banned in China, Financial Times reported. Nvidia stated that using smuggled products available on the Chinese black market for data centres is technically and financially inefficient.
