Oil prices boosted by news China, U.S. put trade war 'on hold'

Reuters  |  SINGAPORE 

By Gloystein

Brent crude futures were at $79.13 per barrel at 0121 GMT, up 62 cents, or 0.8 percent, from their last close. Brent broke through $80 for the first time since November 2014 last week.

U.S. Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $71.83 a barrel, up 55 cents, or 0.8 percent, from their last settlement.

The U.S. trade war with is "on hold" after the world's largest economies agreed to drop their tariff threats while they work on a wider trade agreement, said on Sunday, giving global markets a lift in early trading on Monday.

"The temporary trade dispute will de-escalate over time through negotiation," U.S. said.

"Both sides plan to work on implementing agriculture and and to continue to negotiate on and service trade, bilateral investment and intellectual property protection in coming months," it added.

Still, crude prices were some way off the November 2014 highs reached last week as many traders and analysts say there is enough supply to meet demand despite ongoing production cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), plunging output in crisis-struck and looming U.S. sanctions against major producer

"Without a further escalation in geopolitical risk, might be due a pullback," said Greg McKenna, at

BP's told he expected a flood of U.S. shale and a possible reopening of OPEC taps to cool after crude rose above $80 a barrel last week.

Dudley said he saw falling to between $50 and $65 a barrel due to surging shale output and OPEC's capacity to boost production to replace potential falls in Iranian supplies due to sanctions.

The U.S. oil rig count, an early indicator of future output, was at 844, according to firm That was the same count as the week before, which marked the highest level since March 2015.

(Reporting by Gloystein; Editing by and Richard Pullin)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Mon, May 21 2018. 09:25 IST