Investing.com - Oil prices were lower on Wednesday as renewed concerns over prospects for a U.S.-China trade deal weighed on the outlook for the global economy and energy demand.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday dangled the prospect of completing an initial trade deal with China "soon," but offered no new details on negotiations, while also threatening to raise tariffs again if the two sides did not reach an agreement.
The comments disappointed investors who were expecting some signs of progress on trade.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $56.56, down 23 cents or 0.4% by 07:53 AM ET (12:53 GMT), while Brent crude futures were down 44 cents, or 0.7% at $61.63.
A forecast by the International Energy Agency for slower global oil demand growth from 2025 also weighed on the market.
Global oil demand is expected to grow by 1 million barrels per day (bpd) on average until 2025, but is forecast to slow to 100,000 bpd a year from then on as fuel efficiency improves and more electric vehicles hit the road, the IEA said in its annual World Energy Outlook for the period to 2040.
The share of global oil production by members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia is seen falling to 47% for much of the next decade, a level not seen since the 1980s.
"The effects have been striking, with U.S. shale now acting as a strong counterweight to efforts to manage oil markets," IEA's Executive Director Fatih Birol said.
The American Petroleum Institute is scheduled to release its data for the latest week at 4:30 PM EST (21:30 GMT), while the weekly report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is due at 11:00 AM EST on Thursday.
Energy traders are now eyeing next month's meeting between the OPEC and Russia to determine if the group would deepen output cuts to prop up prices.
"We believe the production curbs could be extended beyond Q1 2020, although deeper cuts are unlikely," ANZ analysts said.
--Reuters contributed to this report