* Chinese industrial profits decline in September
* U.S. crude inventories seen up last week - Reuters poll
* Trump says ahead of schedule to sign part of China trade
deal
* Russia says premature to talk about deeper OPEC+ cuts
* Graphic on U.S. rig count: https://tmsnrt.rs/2XdttIW
(Adds closing prices, U.S. crude inventory forecast)
By Scott DiSavino
NEW YORK, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Monday after
four days of gains as expectations U.S. crude stockpiles will
rise and worries about weak Chinese industrial data offset hopes
oil demand will increase if talks progress on a Sino-American
trade deal.
Brent LCOc1 futures fell 45 cents, or 0.7%, to $61.57 a
barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) CLc1 crude
fell 85 cents, or 1.5%, to $55.81.
Earlier in the session, Brent and WTI both climbed to their
highest levels in a month, hitting $62.34 and $56.92,
respectively.
"The energy complex came out of the gate underperforming our
expectations as it appears that another significant build in
Cushing supply could be forthcoming," Jim Ritterbusch, president
of Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Illinois, said in a
report.
After building for three weeks in a row, U.S. crude oil
stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery point for WTI,
have risen by about 1.5 million barrels in the week through Oct.
25, traders said, citing data from market intelligence firm
Genscape.
Total U.S. crude inventories were forecast to have increased
by around 700,000 barrels last week, according to a Reuters poll
of analysts. EIA/S
Profits at Chinese industrial companies, meanwhile, fell for
the second straight month in September as producer prices
continued to slide, highlighting the impact of a slowing economy
and protracted U.S. trade war on corporate balance sheets.
Ritterbusch said the negative Chinese economic data was
likely already baked into prices and was offset by optimism
regarding the success of U.S.-Chinese trade talks.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he expected to sign a
significant part of a trade deal with China ahead of schedule
but did not elaborate on the timing. "We are looking probably to be ahead of schedule to sign a
very big portion of the China deal, we'll call it Phase One but
it's a very big portion," he told reporters.
The news comes as a relief to investors who have been
grappling with the fallout from the trade war and its impact on
the global economy. Analysts say an agreement would provide a
boost to global oil demand.
"Looking further ahead, if trade talks continue to progress,
and we see full agreement to phase 1 of the deal, this should
help to improve sentiment further," ING analyst Warren Patterson
said.
Russia's energy ministry said that the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries and its oil-exporting allies,
known as OPEC+, would factor in any slowdown of U.S. oil output
growth when they meet to discuss their output agreement in
December.
However, Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin said
it was premature to talk about deeper production cuts.
U.S. crude output has surged to records above 12 million
barrels per day this year, thanks to gains from the Permian
basin that have made the United States the world's largest
producer ahead of Saudi Arabia and Russia.
The rate of growth has, however, been tempered as U.S.
energy companies reduced the number of oil rigs in October for a
record 11 months, under pressure from investors to cut spending
on new drilling. RIG/U
OPEC+ has since January implemented a deal to cut output by
1.2 million bpd to support the market. The pact runs to March
2020 and the producers meet to review policy on Dec. 5-6.
"We are of the view that an extension of current cuts is
path of least resistance for the producer group, while deeper
cuts will be far more difficult to agree on," Harry
Tchilinguirian, global oil strategist at BNP Paribas in London
said.
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GRAPHIC: U.S. Rig count https://tmsnrt.rs/2X8Myf7
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