With no immediate date set for a meeting between Russian and Ukrainian leaders to end their three and a half year old war, crude oil prices rose on Monday.
That’s apparently because traders think there will be even more U.S. sanctions but also because, Ukraine has been attacking Russia’s energy infrastructure including setting a nuclear power plant afire on Sunday.
Brent crude, the global standard, rose $1.20 or 1.77% to finish the day at $68.93 per barrel.
The U.S. standard, West Texas Intermediate crude, finished up $1.29 or 2.03% at $64.95 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchanged.
Natural gas finished the day at $2.701 per MMBtu, a gain of $0.003 or 0.11%.
Monday turned out to be a slow day for Oklahoma energy stocks as a majority suffered losses or no gains for the day. Empire Petroleum led all with a more than 9% loss. On the plus side, NGL Energy Partners recorded a 6% gain.