Oil falls as spectre of U.S.-China trade war haunts market

TOKYO, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Oil futures fell on Friday as
optimism over an end to the U.S.-China trade war faded, leaving
prices set for a weekly loss after days of wild gyrations.
Brent crude LCOc1 was down 17 cents, or 0.3%, at $60.21 a
barrel by 0053 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
CLc1 was off by 14 cents, or 0.3%, at $54.95.
Brent has traded in a range of nearly $5 this week and is
heading for the first weekly loss in five. U.S. crude has traded
similarly and is heading for its first loss in three weeks.
Gloom over the dispute between Washington and Beijing left
investors shrugging off a commitment from Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) producers to trim output,
with more signs emerging that global economic growth is being
stunted by the trade row.
"Again it is a battle between the forces of OPEC and those
of slowing global growth and thus demand," said Greg McKenna,
strategist at McKenna Macro.
The hit to market confidence came as economists in a Reuters
poll predicted the U.S.-China trade spat will worsen or at best
stay the same over the coming year.
Nearly 80% of more than 60 economists said U.S.-China trade
relations would either worsen or stay the same by the end of
next year. The median probability of a U.S. recession in the
next two years held at a high of 45%, and the chance of one in
the next 12 months held at 30%. Those prospects were enough to overshadow OPEC's agreement
on Thursday to trim oil output by asking over-producing members
Iraq and Nigeria to bring production in line with targets. The
group is striving to prevent a glut amid soaring U.S. production
and the slowing global economy.
A market-monitoring committee formed by OPEC and allied
producers, a grouping known as OPEC+, met on Thursday in Abu
Dhabi ahead of policy discussions set for Vienna in December.
OPEC+ has over-complied on average with its agreed cut of
1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) as Iranian and Venezuelan
exports collapsed due to sanctions. But some members, such as
Iraq and Nigeria, have been producing above their quota.