London-traded Brent, the global benchmark for oil, settled down $2.25, or 2%, at $110.23 per barrel. It fell to as low as $102.25 during the session.
New York-traded West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, which serves as the benchmark for US crude, settled down $1.72, or 1.6%, at $103.24. WTI fell below $100 earlier in the session, hitting a near two-week low of $98.58 earlier.
The slide followed Monday’s 7% drop in both crude benchmarks and reinforced the sheer volatility that has become the new normal for oil these days as longs in the market seek to buy the dip and profit big-time when the market rebounds.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak told CNN peace talks with Russia in Turkey have been "successful enough" for a possible meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Russia’s top negotiator in the Ukraine crisis Vladimir Medinsky called the talks "constructive" and said a Putin-Zelenskyy meeting is possible as soon as the peace agreement is prepared. Medinsky also said Moscow does not oppose Ukraine joining the EU. In addition, he said Kiev promised to refrain from joining military alliances.
However, Medinsky told RT de-escalation around the Ukraine capital Kiev did not mean a ceasefire was in progress.
Few market participants also expect prices to remain depressed beyond Thursday, when OPEC+ holds its monthly meeting. The 23-nation strong oil producing coalition seems determined to keep prices at or above $100 a barrel and has not budged in adding a single barrel beyond the monthly increments of 400,000 barrels per day in production it has allowed since last year.
"Longer-term pressures remain and OPEC+ looks unlikely to do anything to alleviate those this week," said Craig Erlam, analyst at online trading platform OANDA.
While OPEC+ has repeatedly stated its desire to remain "apolitical" and base its decisions purely on achieving a "balanced market", Erlam said the reality suggested otherwise.
"Given how unbalanced the market is and the fact that at the center of the alliance is the country to blame for the most recent surge in oil prices, it's hard to view a decision to not increase output targets as anything but political."
Aside from the Russia-Ukraine narrative, traders were on the lookout on Tuesday for US weekly oil inventory data, due after market settlement from the American Petroleum Institute, or API.
The API will release at approximately 4:30 PM ET (20:30 GMT) a snapshot of closing balances on US crude, gasoline and distillates for the week ended March 25. The numbers serve as a precursor to official inventory data on the same due from the US Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.