Brent was down 47 cents at $58.19 a barrel, WTI was down 65 cents, or 1.19%, at $54.45 a barrel

“OPEC can no longer ignore Russia because of its importance as an oil exporter and its economy,” said Elina Ribakova, deputy chief economist at the Institute of International Finance in Washington. “The Russians will continue doing just enough to engage with the Saudis on oil production.”

Brent crude slipped 22 cents, or 0.4%, to $59.03 a barrel, while WTI was down 2 cents at $55.083 at barrel.

The U.K., France and Germany have called for restraint in the South China Sea amid reports that Chinese and Vietnamese vessels are facing off in the disputed waters over competing territorial claims.

Nigeria lost about 22 million barrels of its crude oil production to theft in the first half of this year, Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. said

U.S. Rig Count is down 12 rigs from last week to 904, with oil rigs down 12 to 742, gas rigs unchanged at 162, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 0. Canada Rig Count is up 11 rigs from last week to 150, with oil rigs up 10 to 105 and gas rigs up 1 to 45.

Brent was down by 23 cents, or 0.4%, at $60.85 a barrel, WTI fell 40 cents, or 0.7%, to $56.31 a barrel.

At 427.8 million bbl, US crude oil inventories are at the 5-year average for this time of year

Brent crude futures LCOc1 climbed 59 cents, or 1.0%, to $60.10 a barrel by 0652 GMT. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 gained 70 cents, or 1.3%, to $55.63 a barrel.

The JMMC noted the overall conformity of 159% in July 2019 was 22 pp higher than in June 2019, and the average conformity of 134% since January 2019 was the highest to date in 2019. This high level of overall conformity has offset uncertainty in the market due to ongoing economic growth worries.