HOUSTON: Oil prices eased slightly on Monday as Opec’s plans to increase oil output once again outweighed hopes of a trade deal framework between the US and China and renewed US sanctions on Russia.

Brent crude futures were down about 26 cents, or nearly 0.4 per cent, at $65.68 a barrel at 11:30am ET (1538 GMT). US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were 9 cents or 0.2pc lower at $61.41. Both contracts fell around 1pc in early trade.

Eight Opec+ nations are leaning towards making another modest increase in oil output for December when they meet on Sunday as Saudi Arabia pushes to reclaim market share, four sources familiar with the talks said.

Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that US and Chinese officials had hashed out a “substantial framework” for a trade deal that could avoid 100% US tariffs on Chinese goods and achieve a deferral of China’s rare-earth export controls in trade discussions this week.

“Crude futures are taking a breather from last week’s steep rally as President Trump is meeting with Chinese President Xi and staff for trade negotiations on Thursday to hopefully finalise most differences,” said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president of trading at BOK Financial. The United States hit Russia’s major oil companies with sanctions on Wednesday, which could hurt Russia’s oil exports if enforced and be a positive for crude prices, Kissler added.

“While the futures market has added in additional trade with China and less crude exports from Russia, traders remain cautious as to how much this will actually affect global supplies,” Kissler said.

Concerns over lacklustre demand have weighed on the market, with Brent falling to its lowest since May earlier this month, but renewed sanctions on Russia from the US, along with stronger-than-expected US demand, have helped buoy prices.

“The hope for bulls is that US consumption continues to recover; otherwise, it seems the drift lower seen so far today is likely to intensify,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG Bank.­

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2025