2018-11-15
Oil prices held steady on Thursday after dropping earlier declines, but market sentiment remained cautious on fears of a supply crunch amid gloomy economic outlook.
 
By 0737 GMT, Brent crude futures for the month were the nearest $ 66.17 a barrel, up 5 cents from the previous close.
 
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were $ 56.29 a barrel, up four cents from the previous settlement price.
 
Traders say Brent crude and West Texas crude have outperformed losses on signs that China and the United States may be taking steps to escalate their bitter trade dispute.
 
Despite this, oil prices have lost about a quarter of their value since early October as production rises while demand is expected to slow in line with an economic downturn.
 
China's economic conditions deteriorated significantly in the third quarter of 2018, analysts at Capital Economics said in a note on Wednesday. "China's economic outlook in the near term remains pessimistic," Morgan Stanley said in a note on Wednesday.
 
China is the world's largest importer of oil and the second largest consumer of crude.
 
Meanwhile, data released this week showed contraction in Japan and Germany, two industrial centers, in the third quarter.
 
At the same time, supplies are rising in particular as US oil production rises 22 percent this year to a record 11.6 million bpd