Oil dips as focus shifts to Zelenskiy meet after Putin summit

Oil slipped as traders turned their attention to US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday, with the Ukrainian leader facing US pressure to reach a peace deal with Russia that involves ceding territory.

Brent was below US$66 (RM278.48) a barrel after closing 1.5% lower in the previous session, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was under US$63. In a show of support, European leaders including European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte will join the high stakes meeting in Washington with Trump and Zelenskiy.

The US president said after his talks with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday that he’ll urge Zelenskiy to make a quick deal, and sounded receptive to the Russian leader’s demand that Ukraine give up large swathes of land.

Prior to the Putin meeting, Trump told allies that reaching a ceasefire would be his key demand, and threatened to walk out of the talks and impose tough new measures on Moscow and countries buying its oil if it wasn’t met. On Friday, the US president signalled that he was in no hurry to implement penalties.

So far, Trump has singled out India for buying Russian crude, slapping the South Asian nation with high tariffs for doing so. However, the US president said in a Fox News interview on Friday that he will hold off increasing levies on Chinese goods due to the country’s purchases of Moscow’s crude.

Talks around seeking a resolution to the Ukraine war have injected uncertainty into the market, and led to oil trading in a narrow range recently. Still, futures are down more than 10% this year on concerns around the fallout from Trump’s trade policies, and as Opec+ rapidly returns idled barrels to the market.

Last week, the International Energy Agency said that the market was on track for a record surplus in 2026 due to swelling supplies and slowing demand.