oil futures climbed on wednesday with growing concerns over the russiaukraine situation prompting us benchmark prices to settle at their highest since october 2014 the market remains extremely tight and geopolitical concerns  namely the standoff between the west and russia over ukraine  will be the real drivers of markets in the short term said matthew sherwood global economist at the economist intelligence unit march west texas intermediate crude clh22 rose 175 or 2 to settle at 8735 a barrel on the new york mercantile exchange