Oil prices fall on Thursday

Oil prices fell slightly on Thursday after getting below key technical support levels in the previous session.

Brent crude futures decreased 40 cents, or 0.5 percent to $87.60 per barrel after closing at their lowest since early February in the previous session. U.S. crude futures declined 40 cents, or 0.5 percent at $81.53 per barrel.

Prices were higher earlier in the session fostered by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s threat to cut off the country’s oil and gas exports if price caps are imposed by European buyers.

The EU suggested capping Russian gas prices only hours later, raising the risk of rationing in some of the world’s richest countries this winter if Moscow carries out its threat. Russia’s Gazprom has already cut off flows from the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, cutting off a large percentage of supply to Europe.

“The oil price trend is being shaped by “various external forces such as the energy battle between Western countries and Russia,” analysts from Haitong Futures noted.

The potential impact of any deal or reinstating an accord between the West and Iran on Tehran’s nuclear programme would also be significant, according to notes of the analysts. An agreement would witness sanctions on Iranian oil exports lifted.

Throughout, reacting to soaring energy prices, Britain’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss will on Thursday scrap the country’s fracking ban and will seek to make more use of its reserves in the North Sea, according to reports of the Telegraph newspaper.

Liz Truss is expected to announce dozens of new North Sea oil and gas exploration licences in an effort to boost domestic production, according to Reuters.

The European Central Bank will meet on Thursday and is expected to raise interest rates.