Oil gains ahead of U.S.-China trade deal, snapping four-day decline

• Global oil benchmark Brent crude rose 1% to near $65 a barrel on Tuesday, snapping four straight days of declines on easing Mideast tensions as the United States and China, the world’s top energy consumers, prepared to sign a preliminary trade deal.
• The outlook for oil demand was supported ahead of the signing at the White House on Wednesday of a Phase 1 U.S.-China trade deal, which marks a major step in ending a dispute that has cut global growth and dented demand for oil.
• China has pledged to buy more than $50 billion in energy supplies from the United States over the next two years, according to a source briefed on a trade deal.
• The U.S.-Chinese trade war had a tangible impact on global oil demand growth last year, which reached 890,000 barrels per day compared with initial forecasts of 1.5 million bpd, Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM brokerage said in a note.

(Source: Reuters)