Mubasher: Oil prices fell on Monday as supply worries following crude carrier attacks in the Gulf of Oman began to be eclipsed by a looming global economic slowdown in the middle of trade tensions, according to Reuters.

By 8:56 am GMT, US Nymex crude futures dropped by 0.44% to $52.28 per barrel (pb), while global benchmark Brent futures fell by 0.18% to $61.90 pb.

While Chinese factory output dropped to a 17-year trough amidst trade disputes with the US, “oil markets will have to digest more demand concerns as India implemented retaliatory tariffs on a number of US goods yesterday,” a note by consultancy JBC Energy was quoted by the news agency on Monday.

Deteriorating prospects for global trade also prompted the International Energy Agency (IEA) to slash its oil demand growth outlook for this year, which weighed on crude markets.

The energy watchdog revised its forecast for demand growth down by 100,000 barrels to 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd).

On the supply front, however, geopolitical anxieties in the Middle East remained high, despite tensions resulting for last week’s attack on two oil carriers near the strategic Strait of Hormuz seemed to ease.

US State Secretary Mike Pompeo on Sunday said that the US did not aim to get into a war with Iran, but would take every required course of action, including diplomacy, to ensure safe navigation in the Middle East.

Over the weekend, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih stated that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would probably hold their meeting in the first week of July in Vienna, according to Reuters.

While attending an energy and environment ministerial meeting within the framework of the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Japan, Al-Falih expressed his hope to attain a consensus over rolling over the supply curbs through the second half of this year.

Known as OPEC+, the producer club and non-affiliated partners, including Russia have been withholding their production by 1.2 million bpd since the start of the year.