Crude oil futures were lower in mid-morning trade in Asia Wednesday, retracting from the highest settle in a more than a month, on the back of a larger-than-expected build in US crude inventory data and concerns over the progress of US-China trade talks.
At 10:30 am Singapore time (0230 GMT), ICE January Brent crude futures were down 34 cents/b (0.54%) from Tuesday's settle at $62.62/b, while the NYMEX December light sweet crude contract was down 29 cents/b (0.51%) at $56.9/b.
US crude stocks rose 4.3 million barrels in the week ended November 1, analysts quoting preliminary weekly data released by the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday said.
This was higher than expectations of a 2.7 million-barrel build by analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts on Monday.
The US Energy Information Administration will release more definitive numbers later Wednesday.
Lingering concerns over the US-China trade deal also weighed on sentiment in Asia Wednesday despite news that the US could consider rolling back some tariffs it imposed in September at the request of China.
"Market sentiment has turned a bit more tentative on latest trade war news. China is reportedly insisting on a rollback of existing US tariffs, rather than just a cancellation of new tariffs..." OCBC analysts wrote in a report Wednesday.
"...if it is a hardened stance from which China cannot budge -- and one in which US cannot countenance -- then the chances of a deal coming through would be a lot less than the market appears to be pricing in," the analysts added.
Elsewhere, brighter-than-expected oil market conditions in 2020 could make it unnecessary for OPEC and its allies to implement deeper output cuts when they next meet December 5-6, OPEC's secretary general Mohammad Barkindo said Tuesday.
"Based on the numbers and discussions going on at a technical level, 2020 looks like it has upside potential that will also defy some of the gloomy predictions we have seen during the course of the year," he said at a media briefing in Vienna after the group released its World Oil Outlook report.
Analysts have been predicting a bearish oil market in 2020, which has put producer coalition under pressure to increase its production cuts next year to balance the market.
As of 0230 GMT, the US dollar index was down by 0.06% at 97.720.
