Mubasher: Oil futures were trading higher on Tuesday, but gains were held in check amidst escalating trade tensions between the US and China, according to Reuters.

At 7:57 am GMT, US Nymex crude futures edged up by 0.05% to $61.07 per barrel (pb), while international benchmark Brent futures rose by 0.34% to $70.47 pb.

News from the Middle East stoked worries over output earlier in the session after Saudi Arabia announced that two of its oil carriers were among those assaulted off the coast of the UAE, describing the attack as an attempt to undermine the security of supply amid the crossfire of US-Iran tensions.

However, the trade conflict between the world’s two leading economies kept a lid on the resulting gains, analysts told Reuters.

“This ramp-up in trade tensions, which I don’t really think people saw coming, is going to have an impact, a broad impact,” National Australia Bank senior economist Phin Ziebell told the news agency.

On Monday, China announced its move to impose higher tariffs on a list of US products, including frozen vegetables and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

 Although the US Energy Department expected that global oil markets to remain sufficiently supplied, this could change by the end of the year as production capacity could fall to below 1% of the global demand after Washington slapped oil-rich Iran and Venezuela with sanctions, Reuters said, citing an analyst.