LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters): Crude oil prices rose on Monday following a weekend attack on a Saudi oil facility by Yemeni separatists and as traders looked for signs that US-China trade tensions could ease.
Price gains were, however, capped to some degree by an unusually downbeat OPEC report that stoked concerns about growth in oil demand.
Brent crude LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, was up 65 cents, or about 1.1 per cent, at $59.29 a barrel at 1024 GMT,
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were up 61 cents, or 1.1 per cent, at $55.48 a barrel.
A drone attack by Yemen's Houthi group on an oilfield in eastern Saudi Arabia on Saturday caused a fire at a gas plant, adding to Middle East tensions, but state-run Saudi Aramco said oil production was not affected.
"The oil market seems to be pricing in again a geopolitical risk premium following the weekend drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, but the premium might not sustain if it does not result in any supply disruptions," said Giovanni Staunovo, oil analyst for UBS.
Tensions around Iran appeared to ease after Gibraltar released an Iranian tanker it seized in July though Tehran warned the United States against any new attempt to seize the tanker in open seas.
Concerns about a recession also limited crude price gains, as traders looked for signs of progress in US-China trade talks.
Meanwhile, China National Petroleum Corp, a leading buyer of Venezuelan oil, has halted August loadings following the latest set of US sanctions on the South American exporter, two Beijing-based senior sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Monday.
The Trump administration in early August froze all Venezuelan government assets in the United States and US officials ratcheted up threats against companies that do business with Venezuela.
"Trump's executive order gave a directive for the follow-up sanction measures that shall be announced by the US Treasury... CNPC is worried that the company is likely to be hit by the secondary sanctions," said one source.
A CNPC spokesman declined comment.
A second person, an executive with a key marketer of Venezuelan oil in China, said his company had been notified of the suspension.
"We were told that Chinaoil will not load any oil in August. We don't know what will happen after."
Chinaoil is the trading vehicle of CNPC that lifts Venezuelan oil under term contracts and is one of Caracas' top oil clients.
The two sources declined to be identified as they are not authorised to speak to the media.
CNPC will wait for more guidelines from the US Treasury before further moves in dealing with Venezuelan oil, said the first source.
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