JAKARTA/SINGAPORE (Reuters): Oil prices eased to a three-week low on Friday night on negative economic news from the United States and China and signs of growing supply despite optimism U.S. trade deals could boost global economic growth and oil demand in the future.

Brent crude futures fell 76 cents, or 1.1%, to US$68.42 a barrel by 1:44 p.m. EDT (1744 GMT), while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 91 cents, or 1.4%, to US$65.12.

That put Brent on track for its lowest close since July 4 and WTI on track for its lowest close since June 30.

For the week, Brent was down about 1% and WTI down about 3%. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will meet U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday in Scotland after European Union officials and diplomats said they expected to reach a framework trade deal this weekend.

The euro zone economy has remained resilient to the pervasive uncertainty caused by a global trade war, a slew of data showed on Friday, even as European Central Bank policymakers appeared to temper market bets on no more rate cuts.

In the U.S., meanwhile, new orders for U.S.-manufactured capital goods unexpectedly fell in June while shipments of those products increased moderately, suggesting that business spending on equipment slowed considerably in the second quarter.

Trump said on Friday that he had a good meeting with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and got the impression that the head of the U.S. central bank might be ready to lower interest rates.

Central banks, like the Fed or ECB, use interest rates to keep inflation in check. Lower interest rates reduce consumer borrowing costs and can boost economic growth and demand for oil.

In China, the world’s second biggest economy, fiscal revenue dipped 0.3% in the first six months from a year earlier, the finance ministry said on Friday, maintaining the rate of decline seen between January and May.

GROWING SUPPLIES?

The US is preparing to allow partners of Venezuela’s state-run PDVSA, starting with U.S. oil major Chevron, to operate with limitations in the sanctioned nation, sources said on Thursday.

That could boost Venezuelan oil exports by a little more than 200,000 barrels per day (bpd), which would be welcome news for U.S. refiners, as it would ease tightness in the heavier crude market, ING analysts wrote.

In the Middle East, Iran said it would continue nuclear talks with European powers after “serious, frank, and detailed” conversations on Friday, the first such face-to-face meeting since Israel and the U.S. bombed Iran last month.

Venezuela and Iran are members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Any deal that could increase the amount of oil either sanctioned country could export would boost the amount of crude available to global markets.

A meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, which includes top ministers from OPEC and allies like Russia, a group known as OPEC+, is scheduled for 1200 GMT on Monday.

Four OPEC+ sources told Reuters the meeting was unlikely to alter the group’s existing policy, which calls for eight members to raise output by 548,000 bpd in August.

In Russia, the world’s second biggest crude oil producer behind the U.S., daily oil exports from its western ports are set to be around 1.77 million bpd in August, down from 1.93 million bpd in July’s plan, amid the expected rise in refinery runs, Reuters calculations based on data from two sources show.

In the U.S., energy firms this week cut the number of oil and natural gas rigs operating for the 12th time in 13 weeks, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report on Friday.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino in New York, Robert Harvey in London, and Sudarshan Varadhan and Siyi Liu in Singapore. Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Emelia Sithole-Matarise) – Reuters