Worry surrounding the latest round of trade.....>

OIL: Worry surrounding the latest round of trade war escalation has kept oil on

the defensive in early trade this week, with WTI printing $0.40 lower and Brent

$0.70 worse off at writing.

- Oil struggled on Friday, hindered by the tariffs that Trump proposed to levy

on Mexican goods, with expiries across the energy derivatives complex also

adding to the volatility.

- The latest round of U.S. Baker Hughes rig count data pointed to a modest

uptick in the number of active oil rigs.

- Weekend news flow revealed that Russia's average daily oil output for the

month of May fell below the levels pledged under the OPEC+ agreement, although

this was likely largely due to the issues caused by the contamination of the

Druzhba pipeline.

- Also worth highlighting some weekend comments from one of the Iranian Supreme

Leader's aides, who noted that any clash with the U.S. would push oil prices

above $100/bbl.