Oil prices ease as demand worries counter supply cuts

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Oil prices drifted lower on Tuesday, as weak global data raised concerns about future demand for the commodity despite a positive boost from Opec’s decision to extend supply cuts until next March.

Brent crude futures LCoc1 for September delivery were trading down 15 cents, or 0.2%, at $64.91 a barrel by 0311 GMT after dipping to $64.66 earlier.

Brent climbed more than $2 a barrel on Monday before paring gains later in the day.

US crude futures for August CLc1 were down 25 cents, or 0.4%, at $58.84 a barrel, after touching their highest in over five weeks on Monday.

“After 2-1/2 years of production cuts, the effects of rolling over production cuts is losing steam,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York, adding that markets remained nervous about demand.

“The trade war is not likely to get resolved any time soon and while central banks globally are expected to deliver fresh stimulus in the coming months, economic activity is continuing to trend lower.”