While oil traders keep an eye on Russia, they’re also looking to a possible nuclear deal with Iran that could help add to global supplies.
Uncertainty drove oil prices higher on Sunday as more Russians troops massed on Ukraine’s borders. Oil prices were essentially flat over the last week as traders anticipated a potential nuclear deal with Iran that could allow the country to bring millions of gallons of oil to the market. But with tensions ratcheting up along the Russia-Ukraine border, oil markets opened in evening trading more than a dollar a barrel higher. President Biden and other senior American officials have said that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has already decided to invade Ukraine despite the threat of crippling sanctions. Any invasion would most likely interrupt Russian natural gas and oil shipments to parts of Europe and then be followed by a decline in purchases of Russian energy by the West. Nevertheless, negotiations continued on several fronts.
