(Bloomberg) — Oil pushed higher after rallying more than 3% in the previous session as the US and China agreed to start trade negotiations, raising optimism that tensions between the world’s two biggest economies may ease.
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Brent rose toward $63 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was near $60. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with Chinese officials in Switzerland later this week, the first confirmed discussions since President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs.
Oil has trended lower since late January due to escalating trade frictions and plans by OPEC+ to keep boosting idled supply. The decline in crude prices will likely lead to falling American shale output, according to Diamondback Energy Inc., the largest US independent oil producer in the Permian Basin.
The Energy Information Administration cut its forecast for US crude production this year, expecting output at 13.42 million barrels a day this year, according to a report released on Tuesday. That estimate doesn’t account for the latest supply increase agreed by OPEC and its allies over the weekend.
Meanwhile, the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute reported US crude stockpiles shrunk by 4.49 million barrels last week. Inventories also slipped at the Cushing, Oklahoma, oil storage hub. Government figures are due later on Wednesday.
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