UPDATE 7-Oil rises but ends week lower on demand fears despite Mideast tensions

* IEA and OPEC cut oil demand forecasts
* Tanker attacks raise threat to supplies from Middle East
* Brent and WTI fall 2% and nearly 3% respectively in the
week
* U.S. rig count falls for second week in a row -Baker
Hughes

(Adds settlement prices, quote,)
By Scott DiSavino
NEW YORK, June 14 (Reuters) - Oil rose about 1% on Friday
after attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman this week
raised concerns about potential supply disruptions, but prices
remained on track for a weekly loss on fears that trade disputes
will dent global oil demand.
Brent futures LCOc1 settled 70 cents, or 1.1%, higher at
$62.01 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude
futures CLc1 rose 23 cents, or 0.4%, to close at $52.51.
The attacks on oil tankers near Iran and the Strait of
Hormuz pushed up oil prices by as much as 4.5% on Thursday.
It was the second time in a month tankers have been attacked
in the world's most important zone for oil supplies as tensions
increase between the United States and Iran. Washington blamed
Iran for Thursday's attacks, prompting a denial and criticism
from Tehran. On Friday, a U.S. official said Iranian military fast-boats
in the Gulf of Oman were preventing two privately-owned tug
boats from towing away one of the damaged tankers. "The possibility of what we've seen (in the Middle East)
over the past few days could intensify into the weekend and
traders are reluctant to be short in front of that," said
Anthony Headrick, energy market analyst at CHS Hedging LLC in
Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, noting "The recent headline of
restricting those tug boats got some traders off the fence to
cover shorts."
Still, Brent registered a weekly decline of around 2%,
putting it down for a fourth week in a row, while U.S. crude
lost almost 3%.
"The deteriorating demand outlook is holding back prices,
despite these tensions," said John Kilduff, a partner at Again
Capital LLC in New York.
Slowing economic conditions have eaten into demand growth,
overshadowing ongoing tensions between the U.S. and Iran,
Kilduff said. As a result, prices may be stuck in a holding
pattern. "We are stalemated here."
The International Energy Agency cut its demand growth
forecast for 2019 by 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.2
million bpd, citing worsening prospects for world trade.
However, the Paris-based agency said it expects demand
growth to climb to 1.4 million bpd in 2020.
On Thursday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) cut its 2019 forecast for growth in global oil
demand even lower than the IEA, to 1.14 million bpd.
On the supply side, U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela, an
output cut pact by OPEC plus its allies, fighting in Libya and
attacks on tankers in the Gulf of Oman added only limited
uncertainty to supply, the IEA said.
Surging U.S. supply, as well as gains from Brazil, Canada
and Norway, would contribute to an increase in non-OPEC supply
of 1.9 million bpd this year and 2.3 million bpd in 2020.
U.S. energy firms reduced the number of oil rigs operating
for a second week in a row, General Electric Co's GE.N Baker
Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report
on Friday. RIG/U


Tensions in the Middle East have escalated since U.S.
President Donald Trump withdrew from a 2015 multinational
nuclear pact with Iran and reimposed sanctions, especially
targeting Tehran's oil exports.
Iran, which has distanced itself from the previous attacks,
has said it will not be cowed by what it describes as
psychological warfare.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States
has assessed that Iran was behind the attacks on Thursday.
The U.S. military later released a video that it said showed
Iran's Revolutionary Guard removing an unexploded mine from the
side of a Japanese-owned oil tanker. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Position of evacuated tankers in Gulf of Oman https://tmsnrt.rs/2X6nIQF
TECHNICALS-Brent oil may retest support at $59.78
ID:nL4N23L0GM
Global oil demand growth, year-on-year https://tmsnrt.rs/2Ie9rco
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