Oil rises following expected cuts in OPEC, but markets fear for trade problems

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices rose on Monday as traders expect the biggest exporter, Saudi Arabia, to force OPEC, a producer club, to cut its supply. Here the end of the year.

Despite this, markets remained wary of serious trade disputes between the world's two largest economies, the United States and China.

The Brent crude futures contract at the beginning of the month, LCOc1, was $ 67.21 per barrel at 0609 GMT, up 45 cents or 0.7% from their last close.

United States West Cluster (WTI) crude oil futures were up 58 cents, or 1%, to $ 57.04 per barrel.

"Oil prices have continued to recover … the market will closely monitor the possible consequences of a reduction in supply," said Sukrit Vijayakar, director of India's Trifecta Energy Council.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which is de facto directed by Saudi Arabia, calls on the cartel of producers and its allies to reduce the supply by one million to 1.4 million barrels per day adapt to slower growth in demand and prevent oversupply.

Despite Monday's gains, crude prices remained almost a quarter below their recent highs in early October, driven by soaring supply and slower demand growth.

This comes in part after Washington granted Iran's major oil customers, mainly in Asia, unexpectedly large exemptions from the sanctions it imposed on Tehran in November.

The Japanese refiner Fuji Oil is expected to resume its purchases of Iranian crude after Japan has received one of these exemptions, industry sources in the sector said.

Japan had stopped all its purchases of Iranian oil before receiving the waiver in early November.

Meanwhile, oil production in the United States is rising.

US energy companies added two oil platforms on November 16, bringing the total to 888, the highest level since March 2015, a weekly report from energy services firm Baker Hughes said Friday.

Increased drilling activity points to a further increase in US crude oil production C-OUT-T-EIA, which has already jumped nearly a quarter this year, to a record 11.7 million bpd.

Frightened by the surge in supply and the slowdown in demand, financial markets are increasingly wary of the oil sector as fund managers reduce their upside bets on futures and options to the lowest level. level since June 2017, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said Friday.

The speculation group reduced its combined futures and options positions on US crude and Brent crude during the week ended November 13th, the lowest since June 27, 2017.