Crude Oil Little Changed Ahead Of U.S.-Iran Talks

(RTTNews) - Following the weakness seen in the previous session, the price of crude oil has shown a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Wednesday.

Crude for April delivery is slipping $0.15 or 0.2 percent to $65.48 a barrel after slumping $0.68 or 1 percent to $65.63 during Tuesday's session.

The choppy trading on the day comes as traders look ahead to nuclear talks between the United States and Iran in Geneva, Switzerland, later this week.

Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi has said that a deal with the United States to avert conflict is "within reach" and that the "historic opportunity to strike an unprecedented agreement" would depend on whether "diplomacy is given priority".

Delivering his State of the Union address in Washington, DC, U.S. President Donald Trump said that he preferred diplomacy.

"My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy. But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world's number one sponsor of terror, which they are, by far, to have a nuclear weapon. Can't let that happen," Trump said.

U.S. envoys, including special representative Steve Witkoff and presidential adviser Jared Kushner, are due to meet Iranian counterparts on Thursday to compel Iran to negotiate an end to its nuclear program.

The U.S. has positioned military forces in the Middle East, suggesting that the risk of military action remains very real.

Meanwhile, traders have largely shrugged off a report from the Energy Information Administration showing a substantial rebound by U.S. crude oil inventories in the week ended February 20th.

The report said crude oil inventories spiked by 16.0 million barrels last week after tumbling by 9.0 million barrels in the previous week.