Investing.com - Oil prices were slightly lower nearing midday on Thursday as traders took profit after five-straight days of gains.
New York-traded West Texas Intermediate crude futures slipped 8 cents, or 0.12% to $67.78 a barrel by 11:29 AM ET (15:29 GMT).
Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., rose 7 cents, or 0.05%, to $74.73.
U.S. crude has gained nearly 3% so far this week as weekly inventory data out of the U.S. showed sharp declines in stockpiles, bolstering bullish arguments that demand would outweigh supply glut concerns.
Keeping oil in check on Thursday, the U.S. and China took the next step in their trade tit-for-tat, with the imposition of 25% tariffs on $16 billion worth of each other's goods.
Even as low-level officials from both sides were conducting negotiations in Washington, the first formal talks since June, U.S. President Donald Trump had downplayed the possibility of any significant advance on Monday.
Meanwhile, Washington is holding hearings this week over another $200 billion worth of Chinese imports to face levies that, if approved, would likely cause Beijing to respond in kind.
Markets are concerned that a potential full-blown trade war between the U.S. and China would slow global economic growth and curb energy consumption.
In other energy trading, gasoline futures fell 0.83% to $2.0534 a gallon by 11:31 AM ET (15:31 GMT), while heating oil advanced 0.11% to $2.1706 a gallon.
Lastly, natural gas futures inched up 0.07% to $2.958 per million British thermal units as data showed that the build of weekly storage stockpiles was in line with forecasts.