The benchmark Crude WTI is up a modest 0.30% to $81.91 today at 4.23 a.m. EST. The black gold has dropped nearly 7.7% over the last five days and is trending back toward the $80 mark.
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The slide in prices comes after a number of factors pointing towards easing global geopolitical dynamics coupled with expectations of softening oil demand by OPEC.
Russia has agreed to renew a key grain deal to enable shipments from the Black Sea, China is taking steps towards emerging out of strict COVID-19 lockdowns and the recent meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping has raised hopes of increased cooperation between the two superpowers.
Meanwhile, natural gas prices continue to remain volatile and have gained 5.8% over the past five days. Today, natural gas price is down 2.81% to $6.19 in early trade.

The Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) has now gained 13.1% over the past month.
Here are related tickers for this article:
- United States Oil Fund LP (USO)
- ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Crude Oil (UCO)
- United States Natural Gas Fund LP (UNG)
- Cheniere Energy (LNG)
- Chevron (CVX)
- ConocoPhillips (COP)
- Occidental Petroleum (OXY)
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