KONTAN.CO.ID - LONDON. Oil prices edged higher on Wednesday after Moscow said that peace talks with Ukraine had hit a dead end, fuelling supply worries, while weak economic data from China and Japan kept a lid on gains. Brent crude rose by 48 cents, or 0.5%, to $105.12 a barrel by 0808 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 28 cents, or 0.3%, to $100.88. Both benchmarks had surged by more than 6% on Tuesday. "The downside for oil prices is limited," said OANDA senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley, citing the Russian comments on peace talks and U.S. President Joe Biden accusing Russia of genocide. These "are reinforcing that the Ukraine-Russia situation will not be de-escalating any time soon".
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday blamed Ukraine for derailing peace talks and said Moscow would not let up on what it calls a "special operation" to disarm its neighbour. Baca Juga: German Economic Institutes See Sharp Recession If Russian Gas Cut Off Crude futures are also drawing support from Russian oil and gas condensate production falling to below 10 million barrels per day (bpd) on Monday, its lowest since July 2020. The International Energy Agency (IEA) on Tuesday said it expected Russian oil output losses to average 1.5 million bpd in April, with losses growing to close to 3 million bpd from May. Western sanctions against Russia and logistical constraints have hampered trade, people familiar with the data said on Tuesday. OPEC has warned that it would be impossible to replace potential supply losses from Russia and signalled that it would not pump more crude. Reports this week of partial easing of some of China's tight COVID-19 lockdown measures also underpinned oil prices. Price gains, however, were kept in check by weak data from China and Japan. Baca Juga: Indonesia C.Bank Reiterates Pledge to Keep Rates at Record Lows