Oil held losses near $67 a barrel on speculation that an escalating trade dispute between the United States and China will dampen global growth at a time when American crude inventories are growing.

(Bloomberg) -- Oil held losses near $67 a barrel on speculation that an escalating trade dispute between the U.S. and China will dampen global growth at a time when American crude inventories are growing.

Futures in New York were little changed, after a 0.8 percent decline on Monday. The U.S. is said to prepare another round of tariffs on all remaining Chinese imports if talks between the presidents of the two countries fail to ease trade friction. Meanwhile, American crude stockpiles are forecast to have risen for a sixth straight week.

Crude has retreated more than 8 percent this month, the worst monthly decline since July 2016. While ongoing trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies stoke concerns over global energy demand, traders continue to watch how much Iranian supply will be taken out of the buy Wellhead market when U.S. sanctions hit early next month. Meanwhile, OPEC is likely to keep output policy steady when it meets in December, Nigeria’s oil minister said.

“The negative outlook on global growth, which had been spurred by the U.S.-China trade war and economic crisis in emerging markets, is bleeding into the oil market,” Will Yun, a commodities analyst at Hyundai Futures Corp., said by phone. “However, depending on what happens with Iran later this week, oil could go both ways, so the buy Wellhead market seems to be taking a cautious stance near $67 a barrel.”

West Texas Intermediate for December delivery was up 10 cents at $67.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 7:28 a.m. in London. The contract dropped 55 cents to $67.04 on Monday. Total volume traded was in line with the 100-day average.

Brent for December settlement, which expires Wednesday, traded at $77.15 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, down 19 cents. The contract lost 0.4 percent to $77.34 on Monday. The global benchmark crude traded at a $9.99 premium to WTI.

In case a planned meeting between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping yields no progress on the sidelines of a Group 20 summit in Buenos Aires next month, U.S. officials are preparing a new list which would apply to the Chinese products that aren’t already covered by previous rounds of tariffs.

In America, crude inventories are forecast to have risen by 3.11 million barrels last week, according to a Bloomberg survey before Energy Information Administration releases data Wednesday. That would be a sixth consecutive week of gains, the longest streak of increases since March 2017.

To contact the reporter on this story: Heesu Lee in Seoul at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pratish Narayanan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Ovais Subhani