U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) settled US$1.65, or 1.7per cent, lower at US$94.70 a barrel, while Brent crude futures fell 66 cents, or 0.6per cent, to US$103.20. Under tweaks to sanctions on Russia that came into force on Friday payments related to purchases of Russian seaborne crude oil by EU companies would not be banned. "Short term that definitely is a negative headline that probably gave us a little bit of a sell-off here," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures group. "Perceptions are growing that the U.S. and EU will implement price caps on Russian oil by year end," said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president of trading at BOK Financial. Prices, however, were held back by worries of interest rate hikes that could slash demand and the resumption of some Libyan crude oil output.
