Oil Prices Slip As Summer Demand Nears An End Amid Resumption Of Russian Pipeline

Benchmark Brent crude prices fell 53 cents to $67.52 per barrel at 5.04 a.m. ET, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude prices fell 0.8% to $63.65 per barrel.

Oil prices fell on Thursday as a Russian pipeline restarted operations while investors reportedly braced for the end of the strong summer driving season.

Benchmark Brent crude prices fell 53 cents to $67.52 per barrel at 5.04 a.m. ET, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude prices fell 0.8% to $63.65 per barrel.

According to a Reuters News report, the supplies of Russian crude oil via the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia have resumed following an outage caused by a Ukrainian attack on Russia. Kyiv has increasingly targeted Russia’s energy infrastructure over the past week, resulting in a fuel shortage in some areas.

According to the report, traders also view the upcoming U.S. Labor Day long weekend as the unofficial end of the summer driving season, marking the beginning of a downturn in gasoline demand in the U.S.

Strong demand in the U.S. has so far provided support to fuel prices, which have been pressured by an uptick in supplies from OPEC+ countries. On Wednesday, oil futures had risen after official data revealed a significant draw in U.S. crude inventories.

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits about the United States Oil Fund was still in the ‘bearish’ territory at the time of writing.

Goldman Sachs analysts have projected that Brent crude oil prices could slump to the low $50s by 2026 due to a significant increase in global oil supplies.

Traders are also cautiously awaiting India's decision on what to do with Russian oil, as the Trump administration has imposed a 50% tariff on the country for its trade with Moscow. Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, on Wednesday, slammed the conflict as “Modi’s War” in a fresh criticism.

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