* Brent set for 25% hike, WTI on track for 30% jump in H1
2019
* U.S.-China trade war endangers demand
* Many analysts expect extension of OPEC+ output cut
* Tensions over Iran have boosted prices
* U.S. oil output in April exceeds 12 mln bpd to record -EIA
(Updates prices, adds data, Russia news)
By Devika Krishna Kumar
NEW YORK, June 28 (Reuters) - Oil prices were little changed
on Friday and were on track for a second straight week of gains,
ahead of talks over the trade dispute between the U.S. and
Chinese presidents this weekend and on production cuts from OPEC
on Monday.
Brent August crude LCOc1 futures were up 19 cents at
$66.74 a barrel by 1:50 p.m. ET (1750 GMT), ahead of expiry.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures were
down 14 cents at $59.29 a barrel. The most active September
Brent crude futures LCOU9 was down 16 cents at $65.51 a
barrel.
Brent was on course for a gain of around 25% in the first
half of 2019 and WTI for a 30% gain. Both contracts were also
set to notch their second straight weekly gain.
The leaders of the G20 countries meet on Friday and Saturday
in Osaka, Japan, but the most anticipated meeting is between
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on
Saturday. A trade war between the world's two biggest economies has
weighed on prices, fanning fears that slowing economic growth
could dent demand for oil.
Trump said he hoped for productive talks with the Chinese
president, but said he had not made any promises about a
reprieve from escalating tariffs. "Since we don't anticipate significant progress out of
tomorrow's Trump-Xi discussions, we are not ruling out some
reduction in risk appetite next week with U.S. equities
relinquishing a sizable portion of this week's gains," Jim
Ritterbusch of Ritterbusch and Associates said in a note.
"Furthermore, we are not looking for any surprises out of
the Monday-Tuesday OPEC+ meeting as a simple rollover of the
existing agreement through the rest of this year would appear to
be the most probable outcome."
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and
some non-members including Russia, known as OPEC+, will hold
meetings on July 1-2 in Vienna to decide whether to extend their
supply cuts.
Russia is cutting its oil output in June by slightly more
than envisaged in the OPEC+ deal, RIA news agency cited Russian
Energy Minister Alexander Novak as saying. "The market sentiment is that OPEC+ will agree to extend
cuts, but after all what matters is how deep the cuts will be
and how much Saudi Arabia and Russia will curb," said Kim
Kwang-rae, a commodity analyst at Samsung Futures in Seoul.
OPEC+ members agreed to curb oil output by 1.2 million
barrels per day from Jan. 1.
Oil prices could stall as a slowing global economy squeezes
demand and U.S. crude floods the market, a Reuters poll of
analysts found, despite an expected extension by OPEC and its
allies of their output-cutting pact. The survey of 42 economists and analysts forecast Brent
crude would average $67.59 a barrel in 2019, down from the
$68.84 estimate in May.
Tensions between the United Sates and Iran have also been
keeping markets on edge.
A week after Trump called off air strikes on Iran at the
last minute, the prospect that Tehran could soon violate its
nuclear commitments has created additional diplomatic urgency to
find a way out of the crisis.
Record U.S. crude production has also capped oil prices.
U.S. crude output in April rose to a fresh monthly record,
surpassing 12 million barrels per day, according to a government
report on Friday. U.S. energy firms this week increased the number of oil rigs
operating for a second week in a row, bringing the total count
to 793, General Electric Co's GE.N Baker Hughes energy
services firm said in its closely followed report.
RIG-OL-USA-BHI
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