Oil up on OPEC output cuts, hopes of easing US/China trade tensions

By Colin Packham and Henning Gloystein

SYDNEY/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Friday after a report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) showed its production fell sharply last month, easing fears about prolonged oversupply.

A report by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday saying that Washington was considering lifting some or all tariffs imposed on Chinese imports also buoyed financial markets, including oil, analysts said.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $52.62 per barrel at 0339 GMT, up 55 cents, or 1.1 percent, from their last settlement.

International Brent crude oil futures were up 54 cents, or 0.9 percent, at $61.72 per barrel.

OPEC, along with some other producers including Russia, cut oil output sharply in December before a new accord to limit supply took effect on Jan. 1, it said on Thursday, suggesting that producers have made a strong start to averting a glut in 2019 as a slowing economy curbs demand.

OPEC said in its monthly report that its oil output fell by 751,000 barrels per day (bpd) in December to 31.58 million bpd, the biggest month-on-month drop in almost two years.

But tempering that support for prices, OPEC also cut its forecast for average daily demand for its crude in 2019 to 30.83 million barrels, down 910,000 bpd from the 2018 average.

Undermining OPEC's efforts to tighten oil markets has been a surge in crude output from the United States, which increased by more than 2 million bpd in the last year to an unprecedented 11.9 million bpd.

"Though OPEC reports are likely to bolster market sentiment for stronger oil prices in the near-term, we remain cautious in the longer run amidst persistent economic weakness and incremental U.S. shale production," Benjamin Lu of Singapore-based brokerage Phillip Futures said in a note.

(Reporting by Colin Packham in SYDNEY and Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE; Editing by Joseph Radford)