UPDATE 8-Oil prices fall 1% as economic worries outweigh tanker tensions

* Chinese industrial output sags
* Saudi Arabia calls for collective effort after attacks
* U.S. shale oil output to rise to 8.52 mln bpd in July -EIA

(Updates with settlement prices, market activity; adds
comments)
By Stephanie Kelly
NEW YORK, June 17 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell more than 1%
on Monday after more poor Chinese economic figures fanned fears
of lower worldwide oil demand.
Brent crude LCOc1 futures lost $1.07 to settle at $60.94 a
barrel, a 1.73 percent loss. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
crude CLc1 futures fell 58 cents to settle at $51.93 a barrel,
a 1.10 percent loss.
Prices have fallen around 20% since a 2019 high reached in
April, in part due to concerns about the U.S.-China trade war
and disappointing economic data.
China's industrial output growth unexpectedly slowed to a
more than 17-year low, data from the National Bureau of
Statistics showed on Friday. It grew 5.0% in May from a year
earlier, missing analysts' expectations of 5.5% and well below
April's 5.4%.
U.S. President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping
could meet at the G20 summit in Japan later this month. Trump
has said he would meet with Xi at the summit, although China has
not confirmed the meeting. "All the major reporting agencies are reporting that demand
is going to be weaker," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price
Futures Group in Chicago. "That has played into the market
malaise. Things we would normally rally off of, we're not."
Bank of America Merrill Lynch lowered its Brent price
forecast to $63 per barrel from $68 a barrel for the second half
of 2019 on faltering demand. Worries remained about increased tensions in the Middle East
following last week's attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of
Oman. The United States blamed the attacks on Iran but Tehran
denied involvement. Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Monday
that countries need to cooperate on keeping shipping lanes open
for oil and other energy supplies to ensure stable supplies.
Market participants also await a meeting between the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other
producers including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, to decide
whether to extend a production cut agreement that ends this
month.
The group has been considering since last month moving the
date of their policy meeting in Vienna to July 3-4 from June
25-26. After a meeting on Monday, Iran's oil minister said he
told his Russian counterpart that he still disagreed with the
early July dates but could attend if the dates were shifted to
July 10-12, the Iranian oil ministry's news agency SHANA
reported.
OPEC+ agreed to cut output by 1.2 million barrels per day
from Jan. 1.
In the United States, U.S. oil output from seven major shale
formations is expected to rise by about 70,000 barrels per day
(bpd) in July to a record 8.52 million bpd, the U.S. Energy
Information Administration said in a monthly drilling
productivity report on Monday. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
TECHNICALS-Brent oil may rise to $63.9 oil neutral in $52.33-$53.28 range
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