By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was down on Wednesday morning in Asia. As the hope for an end to the conflict in Ukraine dies, worries about Russia’s declining output will continue.

The price fell 0.13% to $104.50 at 12:18 PM ET (4:18 GMT) and dropped 0.15% down to $100.45. Brent and WTI contracts rose by more than 6% during the session before.

on Tuesday put paid to hopes for an end to the war in Ukraine, which started after Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24.

Putin claimed that talks between Ukraine and Russia are at a ‘dead end’. However, he suggested the planned seven-week offensive was going according to plan. In a note, ANZ oil analysts warned that this raises concerns about the possibility of oil supply disruptions continuing to occur.

The latest Russian data shows that Russian oil-and gas condensate production was below 10 million barrels per day on Monday, the lowest since July 2020. People familiar with data on Tuesday said that trade continues to be hampered by Russia’s sanctions since the invasion of Ukraine.

According to Interfax, the Russian Minister for Energy Nikolai Shulginov stated late Tuesday that the country is ready to sell oil and other products to any “friendly countries in every price range”, while stating it was focused on maintaining the functioning of the oil industry.

There are some hopeful signs regarding fuel demand as well, with China reportedly partially lifting some COVID-19 lockdowns.

U.S. fuel demand was also strong. Data from the American Petroleum Institute (API), reportedly showed that gasoline stocks declined by 5.1million barrels while distillate stocks decreased by 5 million barrels.

Tuesday’s showed a build of 7.757 million barrels for the week ended Apr. 8. Investing.com’s forecasts for the coming week had predicted a 1.367m barrel build. A 1.080m barrel increase was however reported.

Investors are now waiting for, which is due late in the afternoon.