Crude oil prices were down Friday ahead of the G20 Leader's Summit as markets await decisions regarding U.S.-China trade negotiations and the OPEC oil production cut deal.
International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $65.30 per barrel at 0916 GMT for a 0.24% decline after closing Thursday at $65.46 a barrel.
American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was at $59.11 a barrel at the same time for a 0.44% loss after ending the previous session at $59.37 per barrel.
Leaders of G20 countries will meet on Friday at Osaka, Japan but all eyes will be on the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday that the two countries have completed 90% of the process to make a new trade deal, and added: 'I think there’s a path to complete this.'
The G20 summit will also offer a forum for some leaders of OPEC to discuss issues surrounding the global oil market before the upcoming OPEC and non-OPEC meeting in Vienna on July 1-2.
OPEC and its allies, including Russia, are expected to extend their production cut deal into the second half of 2019, but whether they will increase the total volume of cuts or their level of compliance remains questionable.
The organization and its allies, dubbed as OPEC+, agreed on Dec. 7 to lower their collective output level by 1.2 million barrels per day for the first half of 2019.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr