Oil prices fall on potential Ukraine peace talks
Oil prices fell more than 1% on Thursday as a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine continued to exert downward pressure, along with rising crude inventories in the United States. Brent futures were down $1 or 1.3%, at $74.18 a barrel by 1400 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped 97 cents, or 1.4%, to $70.40. Brent and WTI lost more than 2% on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed a desire for peace in separate phone calls with him and Trump ordered U.S. officials to begin talks on ending the war in Ukraine.