Oil prices fall amid economic slowdown, despite ongoing OPEC supply cuts

* Economic slowdown made worse by trade disputes
* Analysts say slowdown is starting to hit oil demand
* Saudi Arabia sees consensus on extending supply cuts

By Henning Gloystein
SINGAPORE, June 4 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Tuesday
amid a global economic slowdown that is starting to hit oil
demand, triggering calls in producer club OPEC for supply cuts
to be extended.
Front-month Brent crude futures LCOc1 , the international
benchmark for oil prices, were at $60.88 at 0038 GMT. That was
40 cents, or 0.7%, below last session's close.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were
at $52.94 per barrel, down 31 cents, or 0.6%.
Crude oil futures are now around 20% below their 2018 peaks
reached in late April.
"Slowing economic activity now threatens to derail our base
case of robust cyclical (oil) demand growth," said Bank of
America Merrill Lynch in a note.
South Korea's economy shrank by 0.4% in the first quarter
while core inflation slowed to a near 20-year low in May, data
showed on Tuesday, pointing to a further economic slowdown in
Asia. "We project Brent and WTI to average $70 per barrel and $59
per barrel respectively in 2019, and $65 per barrel and $60 per
barrel in 2020," Bank of America said.
Oil prices were under downward pressure as "the tight supply
focus (is) switching to increased risk of lower growth and
demand," said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo
Bank.
"An escalation of the U.S.-China trade war has added further
downside risks to already slowing economies," he said.
ANZ bank said the price falls came "despite OPEC strongly
hinting at further production cuts."
The Middle East dominated producer club of the Organization
of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), together with some
allies including Russia, has been withholding supply since the
start of the year to prop up the market.
The group plans to decide later this month or in early July
whether to continue withholding supply. OPEC's de-facto leader
Saudi Arabia said on Monday a consensus was emerging for
continued cuts in the second half of the year to ensure market
stability.