Oil prices ease on US tariff uncertainty ahead of expected OPEC+ output boost

Written by Nicole Gao

New York (Reuters) -Oil prices fell slightly on Thursday, as investors worried that the American customs tariff can slow the demand for energy before increasing the expected supply by major raw producers.

Brent crude contracts settled 31 cents, or 0.45 %, less to $ 68.80 a barrel. Raw in West Texas Intermediate decreased 45 cents, or 0.67 %, to $ 67 in a thin trade on the eve of the Independence Day.

President Donald Trump stopped for 90 days to implement the US higher definitions on July 9, and many major commercial partners have not presented after commercial deals, including the European Union and Japan. Oil traders are concerned about affecting the economy and demand for fuel.

An initial trade deal between the United States and Vietnam has strengthened on Wednesday, but the uncertainty in customs tariffs in general is waving on the horizon.

Prices also weigh, Opec+ is expected to agree to raise production by 411,000 barrels per day at its policy meeting this week. Also, a private sector survey showed a service activity in China – the world’s largest oil importer – in June at the slowest pace in nine months with poor demand and new export orders decreased.

In the United States, construction of a surprise in raw stocks highlighted demand concerns in the largest crude consumer in the world.

The US Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that local crude stocks increased by 3.8 million barrels to 419 million barrels last week. Analysts in a Reuters survey expected a decrease of 1.8 million barrels.

The Energy Services Company, Baker Hughes, said in its close report on Thursday that US energy companies this week reduced the number of oil platforms by seven to 425, which is its lowest level since September 2021. The number of oil panels is an indication of future output.

On Thursday, data showed that job growth in the United States was strong in June, while unexpected unemployment rates decreased. However, nearly half of the increase in non -agricultural salary lists came from the government sector, with the gains of the private sector slowly slowing with the struggle of the tank and retail trade with the Trump tariff for imports.

“The Thursday’s job report has been stronger than expected, which indicates that the flexibility that we see in the economy over the past few months is still sound. We still expect the federal reserve to continue its approach to waiting for interest rates,” said David Lot, the chief investment official of Abound Financial, said.

Both decades have reached one week level on Wednesday, as the oil producer of Iran suspended cooperation with the United Nations International Nuclear Energy Agency, which raised fears that the ongoing conflict over his nuclear program could develop again into an armed conflict.