West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US crude oil benchmark, is trading near $62.05 during Wednesday’s early Asian session. The decline comes as optimism grows over potential peace in Ukraine, following discussions about a meeting between US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and possibly Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Market participants expect that a peace agreement could lead to easing sanctions on Russian crude oil, which may boost global supply and weigh on WTI prices.

Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a drop in US crude inventories by 2.4 million barrels for the week ending August 15, surpassing expectations of a 1.2 million-barrel decrease. This stronger-than-expected draw signals improving demand and may limit WTI’s downside.

? Source: FXStreet