Oil prices steadied after touching seven-year highs in previous session after US clarified that the first wave of US and European sanctions on Russia would not impact energy exports as they were focused on Russian banks. There are fears that the imposed sanctions could disrupt the oil supplies from Russia and impacting the oil market.

The US and European sanctions have been imposed on several Russian banks in response to Russia’s identification of separatist states in Ukraine as a preparation to invade the nation.

Also the near possibility of Iran supplying 1 million barrels per day of crude to the market with a likelihood of reaching a peaceful nuclear deal between US and Tehran also kept the lid on prices.

Brent crude fell 13 cents, or 0.1%, to $96.71 a barrel, after soaring as high as $99.50, the highest since Sept. 2014.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 6 cents, or 0.1%, to $91.85 a barrel, after reaching $96.

Other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, together called OPEC+, have struggled to meet their production targets due to underinvestment in oil infrastructure, and Iran could face the same challenge according to experts.

Meanwhile, the US has welcomed Germany’s decision to halt the Nord Stream 2 development in response to Russia’s identification of separatist states in Ukraine. Complete but not yet in operation, the Nord Stream 2 project is a 1,230-kilometer-long (764-mile-long) natural gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea, running from Russia to Germany's Baltic coast. It runs parallel to an earlier Nord Stream pipeline and would double its capacity, to 110 billion cubic meters of gas a year.