Oil traded slightly lower on Monday, with WTI crude falling 0.1% to $65.30 a barrel, while Brent oil declining 0.2% to 68.54 a barrel after the recovery of a major US pipeline network eased concerns about oil supply. Meantime, official data showed retail sales in China missed consensus in April, amid a slowdown in consumption; while industrial output growth eased, but remained solid overall. Sentiment was also dented by reports that the highly transmissible coronavirus variant first detected in India was spreading to other countries. On the supply side, OPEC+ started this month a gradual easing of its oil production curbs, pumping an extra 350,000 barrels a day, saying that demand will grow by 5.95 million barrels per day in 2021, helped by the swift rollout of coronavirus vaccinations worldwide. Also, the EIA predicted oil demand will outstrip supply as economies emerge from the pandemic. Last week, Brent crude added 0.79% while WTI crude gained 1%.
