Brent Inches Above $102 Ahead Of Ukraine/Russia Talks

Brent crude oil made modest gains overnight to trade at $102.13 at 7:30 GMT on Tuesday morning. However, the commodity may be in for another drop as a global supply glut and weak economic indicators from some of the world’s largest consumers weigh.

Conflicts in Libya and Iraq have been put in the back burner recently despite their growing seriousness. In Iraq, Islamic militants continued their push throughout northern Iraq and Syria by capturing a Syrian military air base. The incident has prompted the United States to more carefully examine its role in the conflict and could see some escalation in the coming days.

All eyes will be on Eastern Europe Tuesday afternoon as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko prepares to discuss his peace plan with Russian President Valdimir Putin. While the talks, arranged last week, have provided a glimmer of hope that the fighting in Ukraine will come to an end, recent developments in the conflict have many looking at Tuesday's meeting pessimistically.

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On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Kiev has accused Russia of moving troops across the border. The allegations came shortly after Moscow announced that it wanted to send another humanitarian aid convoy into eastern Ukraine to help the war torn cities. Ukraine's Security Service says it has captured Russian paratroopers, but Russia's Foreign Minister has denied any involvement.

Moving forward, investors will be waiting for oil inventory data from the United States, due out later in the day. Most are expecting to see that the nation's crude inventories increased, but that products declined. Analysts believe that U.S. crude inventories rose by 1.8 million barrels last week, but that distillates likely fell by 800,000 barrels and gasoline was down 1.6 million barrels.