Crude oil futures traded flat Monday morning amid ongoing talks aimed at reaching a US-brokered peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
At 9.59 am on Monday, February Brent oil futures were at $61.96, up by 0.03 per cent, and January crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at $58.05, up by 0.42 per cent. December crude oil futures were trading at ₹5,198 on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Monday against the previous close of ₹5197, up by 0.02 per cent, and January futures were trading at ₹5196 against the previous close of ₹5194, up by 0.04 per cent.
In their Commodities Feed for Monday, Warren Patterson, Head of Commodities Strategy of ING Think, and Ewa Manthey, Commodities Strategist, said oil prices ended last week on a weak footing, with ICE Brent down more than 2.8 per cent.
“Ongoing talks to reach a Russia-Ukraine peace deal are weighing on the market. Yet, while the US said progress has been made, there’s been significant criticism of the 28-point plan, particularly from EU leaders, who see it as favourable to Russia. It’s unlikely a deal will be reached anytime soon. Likely sticking points include Ukraine having to give up territory and cap its military size. In addition, Ukraine would want clear, explicit security guarantees as part of any deal. While President Trump set a Thursday deadline for a deal, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it could be extended by several days,” they said.
The Commodities Feed said the developments related to a potential peace agreement are important for the oil market, particularly amid significant uncertainty about the impact of recently imposed sanctions on Russia’s Rosneft and Lukoil. Clearly, a peace deal increases the likelihood that sanctions will be lifted, or at least not enforced strictly. Middle distillate cracks have also eased since Tuesday, as talks soothed concerns over Russian diesel exports. Both sanctions and continued Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refiners have led to plenty of supply worries in the middle distillate market, it said.
Reports suggest that the 615,000 barrels a day Al-Zour refinery in Kuwait is set to start increasing output through December, after facing issues since October that kept it operating at only around a third of capacity. A ramp-up in output should help ease some of the lingering supply concerns in the refined products market, said ING Think’s Patterson and Manthey.
December natural gas futures were trading at ₹412 on MCX during the initial hour of trading on Monday against the previous close of ₹428.30, down by 3.81 per cent.
On the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), December dhaniya contracts were trading at ₹9278 in the initial hour of trading on Monday against the previous close of ₹9186, up by 1 per cent.
December turmeric (farmer polished) futures were trading at ₹13900 on NCDEX in the initial hour of trading on Monday against the previous close of ₹13970, down by 0.50 per cent.
Published on November 24, 2025