LONDON-: Oil prices fell on Tuesday, though losses were limited by lingering concerns about the impact of the Ukraine-Russia crisis on Western crude supplies, analysts said. New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for May delivery, slipped 29 cents to trade at $104.08 a barrel compared with Monday’s close. Brent North Sea crude for June declined 51 cents to stand at $109.44 a barrel in afternoon deals. Tan Chee Tat, investment analyst at brokers Phillip Futures, said tensions over Ukraine were keeping prices “at high levels”. “There are some agreements being made among the countries to try and resolve the conflict through diplomatic means but the markets are not too convinced,” Tan told AFP.
Ukraine is a major conduit for Russian natural gas to Western Europe and traders are concerned that a full-scale armed conflict in the region will disrupt supplies and send prices rocketing.
US Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday said the United States stood by Ukraine’s new pro-Western leaders in the face of “humiliating threats” as Washington and Moscow traded blame over the crisis in the ex-Soviet country.
Biden’s symbolic two-day visit to Kiev came as US officials said that the onus was firmly on Moscow to fulfill an accord struck last week aimed at reducing tensions in the worst East-West confrontation since the Cold War.