Middle East

NBC News - Oil and gas prices rose yesterday after President Donald Trump’s “energy ceasefire,” announced Sunday, failed to gain traction. Brent crude had jumped 2% to almost $108 per barrel, and U.S. crude oil had risen more than 2% to about $94. By Tuesday morning, Brent fell to around $105 per barrel and U.S. crude oil to around $92. 

Meanwhile, Russia has continued to strike Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, including an attack on a power plant in Kharkiv.

Trump indicated that he knew neither Ukraine nor Russia had committed to a ceasefire when he made the announcement on Truth Social. “They agreed, you know why? Because I said, ‘You agree,’” Trump told reporters yesterday. 

The “energy ceasefire” came two days after another surprise Trump announcement — that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to supply 300,000 tons of diesel fuel “to the American and Global Marketplace,” requiring a six-month suspension of the fuel sanctions imposed on the Kremlin in 2022 for its illegal invasion of Ukraine. The suspension of sanctions angered Ukrainian officials, European allies and some U.S. lawmakers.

Trump yesterday defended the deal with Russia, calling it “the right choice for the American people.” Still, experts are highly skeptical that there will be any significant resumption of Russian diesel exports in the near term because of Ukrainian strikes on refiners deep inside Russia.