Oil steady as U.S.-Iran row scales trade worries

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil prices steadied on Tuesday as rising tensions between the United States and Iran.

Brent crude oil was unchanged at $ 73.06 a barrel by 0840 GMT. U.S. light crude was up 15 cents at $ 68.04.

Both oil benchmarks have fallen into the hands of the United States and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Market sentiment has been driven by geopolitical worries: fears that could be disrupted by confrontation in the Middle East or that Washington's trade dispute with its major trading partners could dampen global growth.

Iran, OPEC's third-largest producer pumping 3.75 million barrels a day, has come under increasing U.S. pressure, with the administration of President Donald Trump pushing countries to cut all imports of Iranian oil from November.

Saudi Arabia and other large producers are ramping up to offset losses.

"While oil prices were the primary beneficiary of President Trump's weekend and Iranian President (Hbadan) Rouhani," said Stephen Innes at OANDA's brokerage.

(GRAPHIC: Russia, Saudi Arabia Oil Production 2018: tmsnrt.rs/2L6ck2a)

G20 finance leaders voiced concerns over the weekend about the risk to global growth from trade between the United States and China, among others.

"It is surely a matter of probability," said Matt Stanley, a fuel oil broker at Freight Investors Services in Dubai.

"I imagine crude will be in a fairly narrow range," said Stanley.

Meanwhile, U.S. crude inventories at the U.S. crude futures delivery hub at Cushing, Oklahoma in the furnace days, according to data supplier Genscape, traders said.

We have weekly basis, stockpiles at the end of the week, traders said.

A Reuters survey on Monday estimated that the average crude oil stocks fell about 3.2 million barrels last week, after unexpectedly rising in the week to July 13. [EIA/S]

U.S. The American Petroleum Institute is scheduled to release its inventories data for last week at 4:30 pm EDT (2030 GMT) on Tuesday.

(GRAPHIC: US ​​oil may test support at $ 66.98: tmsnrt.rs/2LhisEJ)

(GRAPHIC: Brent oil may revisit July 18 low of $ 71.19: tmsnrt.rs/2JU4eo0)