Oil Flat Near $66 Ahead of Trump‑Putin Alaska Meeting; 3M‑Barrel U.S. Build Blunts Rally

Oil barely budged Thursday as markets waited for the Alaska sit-down between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin - a meeting that could reshuffle flows of Russian crude depending on what, if anything, comes out of it.

By 1202 GMT Brent was trading around $65.88 a barrel, up about $0.25 (roughly 0.4%), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate was near $62.91, up roughly $0.26 (about 0.4%). Both contracts had slumped to two-month lows a day earlier after the U.S. government and the International Energy Agency flagged more supply than many expected.

Trump warned of "severe consequences" if Putin doesn't agree to peace in Ukraine, and floated the idea of secondary tariffs on buyers of Russian oil - a move that would put pressure on big importers such as China and India and add an obvious supply-risk premium to prices. That kind of political brinkmanship is enough to make traders price in volatility even if actual policy action never arrives.

Still, not everyone sees a big disruption to flows. One market commentator pointed out that any step that materially lifts oil prices via secondary tariffs would be self-defeating for the administration, since higher energy costs tend to be politically painful.

Macro context matters, too. The market's near-certainty that the Federal Reserve will cut rates in September has been supporting crude - lower rates can lift growth expectations and, by extension, oil demand. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has even flagged that a half-point cut is on the table after softer payroll numbers.

Offsetting those bullish inputs was an unexpected build in U.S. crude inventories. The Energy Information Administration reported a 3 million barrel rise in stockpiles for the week to Aug. 8, a reminder that fundamental balances still matter and can dampen price moves tied to headlines.

Names across the oil complex were watching the headlines: big integrated producers like Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) and Chevron (NYSE: CVX) along with services firms such as Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) tend to react to shifts in both geopolitics and demand expectations. For now, though, the market is more in a "wait and see" posture than a directional trade.

Bottom line: politics is the headline driver; fundamentals are the anchor. U.S. crude inventories rose by 3 million barrels in the week ending Aug. 8.