Oil Gains as Traders Weigh Peace Prospects and U.S. Inventory Jump

Attention shifts to a planned U.S. envoy trip to Moscow that could shape the risk premium.

Overview

Brent settled up 1.04% at $63.13 a barrel and WTI rose 1.21% to $58.65, recovering from the prior session’s one-month lows.
U.S. crude inventories increased by 2.8 million barrels to 426.9 million, far above the roughly 55,000-barrel build analysts expected, according to the EIA.
Traders assessed the potential for a Russia–Ukraine peace after President Donald Trump said an agreement is near and President Volodymyr Zelensky signaled readiness to proceed.
A credible deal could remove part of crude’s geopolitical premium, though ING strategists cautioned that Moscow has indicated it may reject terms that diverge from earlier Alaska talks.
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is scheduled to visit Moscow next week to discuss the agreement, while rising odds of a December Fed rate cut provided modest support to demand expectations.