Oil edges up as investors weigh Trump's Russia stance, tariff threats

Oil prices edged higher on Wednesday as investors focused on developments on U.S. President Donald Trump's tighter deadline for Russia to end the war in Ukraine and his tariff threats to countries that trade its oil.

The most active Brent crude futures were up 40 cents or about 0.6%, to $72.09 a barrel by 11:28 a.m. ET (1528 GMT).

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 76 cents at $69.97 with investors largely shrugging off mixed U.S. data on crude and fuel inventories.

The Brent crude September contract that expires on Wednesday was up 37 cents at $72.88.

Both contracts had fallen nearly 1% earlier in the day.

Trump had said on Tuesday that he would start imposing measures on Russia, such as secondary tariffs of 100% on trading partners, if it did not make progress on ending the Ukraine war within 10 to 12 days, moving up from an earlier 50-day deadline.

He imposed a 25% tariff on goods imported from India starting August 1, along with an unspecified penalty for buying Russian weapons and oil, potentially straining relations with the world's most populous democracy. The United States also warned China, the largest buyer of Russian oil, that it could face huge tariffs if it kept buying.

JP Morgan analysts wrote that while China was unlikely to comply with U.S. sanctions, India has signalled it would do so, which could affect 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of Russian oil exports.

"Traders seem more focused on the tariffs (related to Russia) and the compliance by India is being taken as a positive towards crude prices," Dennis Kissler, senior vice president of trading at BOK Financial.

Meanwhile, U.S. crude inventories rose by 7.7 million barrels, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.3 million-barrel draw.

U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 2.7 million barrels compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 0.6 million-barrel draw. Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 3.6 million barrels versus expectations for a 0.3 million-barrel rise, the EIA data showed.