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Brent crude oil futures <LCOc1> were up 19 cents, or 0.29%, to
$65.41 a barrel by 1305 GMT, while West Texas Intermediate crude
<CLc1> was up a cent, or 0.02%, to $60.08 a barrel.
The United States and China announced on Friday a "phase one"
agreement that will reduce some U.S. tariffs in exchange for
what U.S. officials said would be a big jump in Chinese
purchases of U.S. farm products and other goods.
"What the market needs now, though, is clarity around exactly
what the deal entails," analysts from ING Economics said. "The
longer we have to wait for this detail, the more likely market
participants will start to question how good a deal it actually
is."
The Friday agreement averted additional tariffs on Chinese goods
totaling $160 billion that the United States was set to impose
over the weekend.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on Sunday the
deal would nearly double U.S. exports to China over the next two
years and was "totally done" despite the need for translation
and revisions to its text.
China's State Council's customs tariff commission said on Sunday
it had suspended additional tariffs on some U.S. goods that were
meant to be implemented on Dec. 15.
Progress on trade could jump start oil demand and ease fears of
a glut which have weighed on prices, said Edward Moya, senior
market analyst at OANDA.
"Oversupply concerns driving weaker oil prices over the first
half of 2020 is the base case for many investors, but we could
finally start to see improved data from the world's two largest
economies spearhead calls for a global growth rebound."
Data from China on Monday showing industrial output and retail
sales growth accelerating more than expected in November offered
some support for oil prices.
But growth in China is expected to slow further next year, with
the government likely to set its growth target at about 6% in
2020 compared with 6%-6.5% this year.
Brent has rallied this year, supported by production curbs by
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and
allies including Russia, which this month agreed to lower supply
by a further 500,000 barrels per day as of Jan. 1. <OPEC/M>
The decision, according to Saxo Bank commodity strategist Ole
Hansen, "helped trigger a 25% increase in the combined crude
long to 602,000 lots, the highest since May and the biggest
one-week accumulation since December 2016".
(Additional reporting by Jessica Jaganathan; Editing by Jan
Harvey and Mark Potter)
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