Oil futures plummeted on Wednesday after the U.A.E. and Iraq indicated that OPEC may be willing to raise output, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he is potentially willing to engage in a diplomatic compromise with Putin to end the war.
Oil prices backed off a 14-year high amid a selloff, in which Brent crude dropped 17 percent while West Texas Intermediate fell 16 percent. The UAE said it would urge its fellow OPEC partners to increase output, and Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar Ismaael said at an oil conference that the country would aim to keep supply flowing.
Of course, oil is still going to remain volatile. The U.S. and U.K. elected ban imports of Russian oil, and though only about 8 percent of the U.S.’s imports came from Russia last year, the move nonetheless drastically affects the global market.