Crude oil futures were higher in mid-morning trade in Asia on Aug.17 as sentiment remained buoyed ahead of a key OPEC+ production review meeting on Aug.19 despite a postponement in the US-China trade deal review over the weekend amid expectations of a continued uptick in China’s US crude import. At 11:33 am Singapore time (0333 GMT), the ICE Brent October crude futures were up 31 cents/b (0.69%) from the previous settle at $45.11/b, while NYMEX September light sweet crude contract was up 35 cents/b (0.83%) at $42.36/b. “Oil remains buoyed by optimism that a sustained recovery in energy demand is underway boosted by US government data showing crude oil, gasoline, and distillate inventories all declined the week-ending Aug.7,” AxiCorp chief global markets strategist Stephen Innes said in a note Aug. 17. A […]