Oil prices slip ahead of G20 talks, OPEC meet

SEOUL (Reuters): Oil prices eased on Friday as traders awaited any update on the Sino-US trade war from a scheduled weekend meeting of the two countries’ presidents at the G20, and eyed next week’s OPEC gathering.

Brent crude futures were down 35 cents, or 0.5%, at $66.20 per barrel by 0644 GMT.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 30 cents, or 0.5%, at $59.13 a barrel.

The leaders of the G20 countries meet on Friday and Saturday in Osaka, Japan, but the most anticipated meeting is between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday.

A trade dispute between the world’s two biggest economies has weighed on oil prices, fanning fears that slowing economic growth could dent demand for the commodity.

Trump said on Wednesday a trade deal with Chinese President Xi was possible this weekend but he is prepared to impose US tariffs on most remaining Chinese imports should the two countries disagree.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and some non-members including Russia, known as OPEC+, will hold meetings on 1-2 July in Vienna to decide whether to extend their supply cuts.

“The market sentiment is that OPEC+ will agree to extend cuts, but after all what matters is how deep the cuts will be and how much Saudi Arabia and Russia will curb,” said Kim Kwang-rae, a commodity analyst at Samsung Futures in Seoul.

OPEC+ members agreed to curb oil output by 1.2 million barrels per day from 1 January.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with the Financial Times on Thursday that the OPEC-led supply cut helped stabilise oil markets and the future of the output deal was expected to be on the agenda at the G20 summit.

Tensions between the United Sates and Iran have also been keeping markets on edge.

A week after US President Donald Trump called off air strikes on Iran at the last minute, the prospect that Tehran could soon violate its nuclear commitments has created additional diplomatic urgency to find a way out of the crisis.