Oil held gains near the highest level in almost nine months as concerns over a possible escalation in hostilities between Russia and Ukraine overshadowed the first gain in US crude stockpiles in four weeks.
West Texas Intermediate futures traded near $84 a barrel after climbing 3% over the previous two sessions. There’s heightened tension between Kyiv and Moscow after a Ukrainian drone attacked a Russian-flagged oil tanker over the weekend in the Black Sea, a key waterway for the nation’s exports.
While US government data showed crude inventories rose by almost 6 million barrels last week, investors instead focused on shrinking gasoline and distillate stockpiles, which each declined the most in three months.
Read the full story on Bloomberg here.