UPDATE 8-Oil rises 2% after attack on Saudi field, stimulus expectations

* Drone attack on Saudi oilfield causes gas fire
* OPEC sees bearish oil market for rest of 2019
* Wall St rallies on stimulus cheer, trade optimism

(Updates prices, comments)
By Laila Kearney
NEW YORK, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Oil prices gained roughly 2% on
Monday after a weekend attack on a Saudi oil facility by Yemen's
Houthi forces threatened crude supplies and as traders looked
for signs that top economies would take measures to counteract a
global slowdown.
Brent crude LCOc1 , the international benchmark for oil
prices, settled at $59.74 a barrel, rising $1.10, or 1.88%.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1
settled at $56.21 a barrel, up $1.34, or 2.44%.
Signs of a slight softening of the trade war between the
United States and China, including Washington extending a
reprieve that permits China's Huawei Technologies HWT.UL to
buy components from U.S. companies, also helped oil prices.
A drone attack by the Houthi group on an oilfield in eastern
Saudi Arabia on Saturday caused a fire at a gas plant, adding to
Middle East tensions, but state-run Saudi Aramco said oil
production was not affected. "The oil market seems to be pricing in again a geopolitical
risk premium following the weekend drone attacks on Saudi
Arabia, but the premium might not sustain if it does not result
in any supply disruptions," said Giovanni Staunovo, oil analyst
for UBS.
Iran-related tensions appeared to ease after Gibraltar
released an Iranian tanker it seized in July, with the vessel
sailing for Greece, though Tehran warned the United States
against any new attempt to seize the tanker in open seas.
A rally in equities from growing expectations that global
economies would take actions to counteract slowing growth also
helped oil, which often follows stock prices.
"The death of the global economy has been greatly
exaggerated and the market is starting to realize that," said
Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.
China's announcement of key interest rate reforms over the
weekend has fuelled expectations of an imminent reduction in
corporate borrowing costs in the struggling economy, boosting
share prices on Monday. Crude pipelines opening up in the United States, easing
bottlenecks that weighed on the U.S. benchmark, supported WTI in
particular.
In the long run, however, more U.S. crude is likely to
suppress prices if the oil heads for storage.
"At some point in time, the fact you have a heavy load of
barrels come online that wasn't there a few weeks ago, that's
going to kill the golden goose," said Bob Yawger, director of
energy at Mizuho in New York.
Prices gains were limited by a downbeat report by the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that
stoked concerns about growth in oil demand.
OPEC cut its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2019
by 40,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.10 million bpd and
indicated the market would be in slight surplus in 2020.