Oil falls as OPEC+ output plans offset US-China trade optimism

Oil prices fell on Tuesday, marking their third day of declines as an OPEC+ plan to raise output outweighed optimism about a potential U.S.-China trade deal.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday, marking their third day of declines as an OPEC+ plan to raise output outweighed optimism about a potential U.S.-China trade deal.

Brent crude futures fell 83 cents or 1.26% to $64.79 a barrel at 0757 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 75 cents or 1.22% at $60.56.

“Traders weighed up progress in U.S.-China trade talks and the broader outlook for supply,” ANZ said in a morning note.

The softer prices come after Brent and WTI last week registered their biggest weekly gain since June, reacting to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to impose Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia for the first time in his second term, targeting oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft.

Investors continue to chew over how effective those sanctions on Russia might be.OPEC+, which groups the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, is leaning towards another modest output boost in December, four sources familiar with the talks said.Having curbed production for several years in a bid to support the oil market, the group started reversing those cuts in April.

But supporting the market is the prospect of a trade deal between the U.S. and China, the world’s two biggest oil consumers, with Trump and President Xi Jinping due to meet on Thursday in South Korea.

Beijing hopes Washington can meet it halfway to “prepare for high-level interactions” between the two countries, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a phone call on Monday.

Following the U.S. sanctions, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, Lukoil said on Monday it would sell its international assets. This is the most consequential action so far by a Russian company in the wake of Western sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine, which started in February 2022.

Sanctions on oil-exporting countries could push up crude prices, but the effect will be limited because of surplus capacity, International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Tuesday.

Market participants broadly view the sanctions as having a short-term impact. Any medium- to long-term supply losses looked limited, Haitong Securities said in a note, and oversupply would likely put pressure on prices.