Oil rises above $57 on China-US January trade talks and Opec cuts
Opec supply cuts are also supporting oil prices as the API reports US crude stocks fell by 4.5-million barrels
London — Oil rose to above $57 a barrel on Friday after China said it would hold trade talks with the US and a survey showed China’s services sector expanded in December, while signs of lower crude supply also lent support. Oil cartel Opec cut crude output in December, a Reuters survey showed, and the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a 4.5-million barrel drop in crude inventories. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up $1.40 at $57.35 a barrel at 2.23pm GMT. US crude oil was up 81c at $47.90. “Recent Chinese data is not confirming the doom-and-gloom trend,” said Olivier Jakob, oil analyst at PetroMatrix. “And you’ve got Opec cutting.” China’s services sector extended its solid expansion in December, a private survey showed on Friday, bucking a trend of downbeat economic data. Both oil benchmarks are on track for solid gains in the first week of 2019 trading, despite rising concerns that the China-US trade war will lead to a global economic slowdown. But in comments tha...
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