Oil prices steady as Western leaders meet over Ukraine crisis | Reuters

Oil prices steady as Western leaders meet over Ukraine crisis | Reuters

Oil prices were steady on Thursday as the U.S. president met other Western leaders and investors waited to see how sanctions would be tightened on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Benchmark Brent was up 0.3% at $121.95 a barrel by 1111 GMT, after falling by close to $2 earlier in the session. U.S West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was little changed at $114.96 a barrel, after also shedding $2 earlier.

U.S. President Biden was meeting NATO leaders in Brussels for emergency talks as the Ukraine war entered a second month. Biden and European leaders plan to announce additional sanctions against Russia.

Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch said sanctions were unlikely to have a major impact on the oil market because they "will probably not include an oil embargo by the EU, as a number of countries that are heavily depend on Russian oil — such as Germany — have opposed this."