A question jack and pipes at an oil field near Bakersfield, California.
Lucy Nicholson | Reuters
Crude oil prices rose on Monday make inquiry a weekend attack on a Saudi oil facility by Yemeni separatists and as traders looked for any signs that Sino-U.S. trade apprehensions could ease.
But price gains were capped by an unusually downbeat OPEC report that stoked unsettles about growth in oil demand.
Brent crude was up 64 cents, or about 1.1%, at $59.28 a barrel at 0255 GMT,
U.S. immature was up 55 cents, or 1%, at $55.42 a barrel.
“Oil is benefiting from an overall optimism that we won’t see the doomsday trade war structure and after a drone attack on oil and gas facilities in Saudi Arabia reminded markets geopolitical tensions in the Middle East are customary nowhere anytime soon, ” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York.
A drone dissolve by Yemen’s Houthi group on an oilfield in eastern Saudi Arabia on Saturday caused a fire at a gas plant, adding to Bulls-eye East tensions, but state-run Saudi Aramco said oil production was not affected.
Meanwhile, White House economic cicerone Larry Kudlow said trade deputies from the United States and China would speak within 10 dates and could advance negotiations over ending a trade battle between the two countries if those talks pan out.
But U.S. President Donald Trump played less optimistic than his aides on striking a trade deal with China, saying that while he allowed Beijing was ready to come to an agreement, “I’m not ready to make a deal yet.”
Concerns about an economic recession carry oned to weigh on crude prices even as Trump and top White House officials dismissed concerns that U.S. economic crop may be faltering.
Elsewhere, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cut its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2019 by 40,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.10 million bpd and exhibited the market would be in slight surplus in 2020.
It is rare for OPEC to give a bearish forward view on the market.
Also weighing on rates, U.S. energy firms this week increased the number of oil rigs operating for the first time in seven weeks in defiance of plans by most producers to cut spending on new drilling this year.
Traders will also be looking out for key manufacturing information due later this week from Europe and the United States, said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist, CMC Markets.