2019.05.2706:36:00UTC+00Oil Prices Mixed In Cautious Trade

Oil prices were trading mixed on Monday as fears that U.S. crude inventories will continue to rise offset ongoing supply cuts led by producer club OPEC.

Benchmark Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, inched up marginally to $67.50 per barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down about half a percent at $58.35 per barrel.

Brent crude oil prices tumbled 6.5 percent last week amid surging U.S. crude inventories and weak demand from refiners.

WTI crude oil futures shed as much as 6.8 percent in the week, the biggest weekly loss so far this year, after the EIA report showed that commercial U.S. crude inventories rose by 4.7 million barrels in the week ended May 17, their highest since July 2017.

OPEC and Russia are expected to cut production at the semi-annual OPEC meeting in June. The meeting in Vienna will be held either July 1-2 or June 22-23.

OPEC+, the group of producers led by OPEC, has been withholding supply since the start of the year to tighten the market and prop up prices.

Meanwhile, as tensions flare between the United States and Iran, Iraq vowed to stand with Iran.