Oil prices fall amid fears of escalating trade tensions

Oil prices declined today, March 13, after logging their highest close in two weeks yesterday, amid concerns about the impact of the escalating trade war on global economic growth and energy demand.

Brent crude was trading down 0.24% at $70.78 a barrel, at 9:11 am Makkah time. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 0.35% to $67.44 a barrel.

Economic data released on March 12 showed that US crude inventories rose by 1.4 million barrels last week, less than the two million-barrel increase analysts had expected.

OPEC's monthly report revealed that the OPEC+ increased its production by 363,000 barrels per day in February, reaching 41.01 million barrels per day.