12.08.201906:33:00UTC+00Oil Prices Slip On Demand Worries

Oil prices slipped on Monday amid concerns that a prolonged U.S.-China trade war could weigh on global growth and dent already anemic demand for oil.

Goldman Sachs cut its U.S. fourth-quarter growth forecast by 20 basis points to 1.8 percent over the weekend and said a U.S.-China trade deal was unlikely before the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

Benchmark Brent crude shed 0.9 percent to hover around $58 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were down as much as 1.4 percent at $53.74 per barrel.

A U.S.-China trade deal now looks far off after U.S. President Donald Trump downplayed the scheduled September meeting with China and said the U.S. is not ready to do business with Huawei.

Global oil demand growth has been very sluggish in the first half of 2019 and the situation is becoming even more uncertain amid mounting signs of an economic slowdown and a ratcheting up of the trade row, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday.

The Paris-based agency cut its 2019 and 2020 global oil demand growth forecast to 1.1 million and 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd), respectively.