Oil firms as investors await next steps in Ukraine peace push

Oil rose on Wednesday as the American Petroleum Institute reported a drop in U.S. crude inventories and investors awaited the next steps in talks to end the Ukraine war, with sanctions on Russian crude remaining in place for now.

Crude fell more than 1% on Tuesday on optimism that an agreement to end the war seemed closer. However, U.S. President Donald Trump conceded that Russian President Vladimir Putin might not want to make a deal.

Brent crude futures rose 44 cents, or 0.7%, to $66.23 a barrel by 1000 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for September delivery, set to expire on Wednesday, gained 65 cents, or 1%, to $63.

"It seems oil prices are thrown down one day, followed by a rebound the next day. The API report was on the positive side, so I assume some price support is coming from that," said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS.

U.S. crude stocks fell by 2.42 million barrels, market sources said on Tuesday, citing American Petroleum Institute figures, ahead of official data at 1430 GMT.

"Not so sure about the peace deal - will have to see if something moves forward over the coming days," Staunovo added.

Trump said on Tuesday the United States might provide air support as part of a deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine.

A day earlier, Trump said he was arranging a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to be followed by a trilateral summit among the three presidents. Russia has not confirmed it will take part in talks with Zelenskiy.

"The likelihood of a quick resolution to the conflict with Russia now seems unlikely," said Daniel Hynes, senior commodity strategist at ANZ, in a note on Wednesday.

Oil also found support from flooding at a large U.S. refinery.

BP said on Tuesday operations at its 440,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Whiting, Indiana, were affected by flooding after a severe thunderstorm, potentially weighing on crude demand at the facility - a key fuel producer for the Midwest market.

(Additional reporting by Colleen Howe in Beijing and Jeslyn Lerh in Singapore; Editing by Helen Popper)