Oil prices fall as U.S. rig count rise, trade concerns

* U.S. rig count rises to 854 -Baker Hughes

* U.S. Wood River refinery outage weighs on WTI

* Rosneft pressures Putin to end supply cuts with OPEC

* But U.S. sanctions against Venezuela support crude prices

* U.S. oil drilling & production levels: https://tmsnrt.rs/2S87iVI (Adds comment on trade talks, updates prices)

By Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell by around 1percent on Monday as drilling activity in the United States, theworld's largest oil producer, picked up and financial marketswere pulled down by trade concerns.

A refinery fire in the U.S. state of Illinois, whichresulted in the shutdown of a large crude distillation unit,that could cause crude demand to fall also weighed on prices,traders said.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 wereat $52.09 per barrel at 0347 GMT, down 63 cents, or 1.2 percent,from their last settlement.

International Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were down 49cents, or 0.8 percent, at $61.61 a barrel.

In the United States, energy firms last week increased thenumber of oil rigs operating for the second time in three weeks,a weekly report by Baker Hughes said on Friday.

Companies added seven oil rigs in the week to Feb. 8,bringing the total count to 854, pointing to a further rise inU.S. crude production, which already stands at a record 11.9million bpd. C-OUT-T-EIA

WTI prices were also weighed down by the closure of a120,000-barrels-per-day (bpd) crude distillation unit (CDU) atPhillips 66's PSX.NWood River, Illinois, refinery following afire on Sunday.

Elsewhere, the head of Russian oil giant Rosneft ROSN.MM ,Igor Sechin, has written to the Russian President Vladimir Putinsaying Moscow's deal with the Organization of the PetroleumExporting Countries (OPEC) to withhold output is a strategicthreat and plays into the hands of the United States.

The so-called OPEC+ deal has been in place since 2017, aimedat reining in a global supply overhang. It has been extendedseveral times and, under the latest deal, participants arecutting output by 1.2 million bpd until the end of June.

OPEC and its allies will meet on April 17 and 18 in Viennato review the pact.

Analysts said economic concerns were also weighing on crudeoil futures.

Vandana Hari of Vanda Insights said in a note that crudeprices were dragged down "as China returned from a week-longLunar New Year holiday and regional stock markets plunged intothe red amid resurgent concerns over the U.S.-China tradedispute."

Trade talks between the Washington and Beijing resume thisweek with a delegation of U.S. officials travelling to China forthe next round of negotiations. The United States has threatenedto increase tariffs already imposed on goods from China on March1 if the trade talks do not produce an agreement.

Preventing crude prices from falling further have been U.S.sanctions on Venezuela, targeting its state-owned oil firmPetroleos de Venezeula SA (PDVSA).

"The issues in Venezuela continue to support prices. Reportsare emerging that PDVSA is scrambling to secure new markets forits crude, after the U.S. placed additional sanctions on thecountry," ANZ bank said on Monday.

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