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Bloomberg
Oil held above $68 a barrel on slowing American drilling and investor optimism after a breakthrough in a trade standoff between the US and Mexico.
Futures in New York were little changed, following a 1.3 percent gain. Working oil rigs in the US declined by the most since May 2016 last week, according to Baker Hughes data.
Crude has traded below $70 this month as a trade war between the US and China, coupled with the threat of contagion from the Turkish currency crisis, weighed on prices. Still, slowing American output growth and pipeline bottlenecks are adding to supply risks as President Donald Trump is set to impose sanctions on oil exports from Iran in early November at a time when stockpiles are shrinking.
“Falling US rig counts and last week’s decline in US inventories are supporting oil prices amid a protracted US-China trade war that could dampen global growth and weigh on oil demand,†said Stephen Innes, head of trading for the Asia Pacific region at Oanda Corp.