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• WTI price edges higher to near $69.80 in Thursday’s early Asian session. 
• Trump had threatened to end Russia's three-year-plus war on Ukraine in another 10 days.  
• US Crude Oil Inventories unexpectedly increased sharply last week, said the EIA. 

West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US crude oil benchmark, is trading around $69.80 during the Asian trading hours on Thursday. The WTI extends its upside to the highest levels in over a month as traders focus on potential developments on US President Donald Trump's tighter deadline for Russia to end the war in Ukraine. 

Late Wednesday, Trump said he would impose a tariff of at least 25% on India’s exports to the US starting Friday. Trump also blasted India’s purchases of Russian energy and weapons. Trump’s threats to penalize India for buying Russian crude fueled investors’ worries that global supplies may tighten, which lifts the WTI price.

Additionally, Trump reiterated that the US may impose additional tariffs on Russia if Moscow does not make progress toward ending the war in Ukraine within 10 days. “The threat of secondary sanctions on Russian crude supported WTI and Brent crude prices over the last session,” said Daniel Ghali, a commodity strategist at TD Securities.

US crude oil inventories rose the most since January as domestic production and imports increased and exports fell. This, in turn, might cap the upside for the black hold. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) weekly crude oil stock report showed crude oil stockpiles in the US for the week ending July 25 rose by 7.698 million barrels, compared to a fall of 3.169 million barrels in the previous week. The market consensus estimated that stocks would decline by 2.5 million barrels.

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