Oil steady near three-month highs on trade deal progress; set for third weekly rise - Reuters

Oil steady near three-month highs on trade deal progress; set for third weekly rise - Reuters:

Oil prices were steady close to three-month highs on Friday, heading for a third consecutive weekly rise, on the back of easing Sino-U.S. trade tensions that have weighed on demand as well as the global economic growth outlook.

Brent futures LCOc1 were up 6 cents, or 0.09%, to $66.60 a barrel by 0732 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 was down 6 cents, or 0.1%, at $61.12 per barrel.

Progress in a long-running trade dispute between the United States and China, the world’s two biggest oil consumers, has boosted expectations for higher energy demand next year.

China on Thursday announced a list of import tariff exemptions for six oil and chemical products from the United States, days after the world’s two largest economies announced an interim trade deal set to be signed at the beginning of January.