Mubasher TV
Contact Us Advertising   العربية

Oil trades lower early Monday on slower Chinese economic growth

Oil trades lower early Monday on slower Chinese economic growth

Mubasher: Oil prices declined earlier on Monday after data indicated that Chinese economy grew at the slowest quarterly pace in decades, consolidating worries about demand in the world’s biggest crude consumer, Reuters reported.

At 6:11 am GMT, US Nymex crude futures dropped by 0.4% to $59.97 per barrel (pb), while global benchmark Brent futures fell by 0.2% to $66.57 pb.

However, by 9:34 am GMT, Nymex crude futures rose by 0.38% to $60.44 pb, while Brent futures jumped by 0.55% to 67.07 pb.

Chinese economic growth slowed down to 6.2% year-on-year in the second quarter, with both domestic and external demand stuttering as the US-China trade conflict kick in.

Nevertheless, Chinese industrial output and retail sales came stronger than expected, pointing to stabilisation due to the government’s stimulus measures.

China’s crude oil runs climbed to a peak of 13.07 million barrels per day (bpd) last June, rising by 7.7% from a year ago.

Year-to-date crude imports to the world’s biggest oil consumer, still appeared strong even as imports declined last month for a second month in a row.

It is worth noting that both Nymex and Brent last week recorded their largest weekly gains in three weeks as lower US oil production and diplomatic tensions in the Middle East.

 Refineries in the path of Tropical Storm Barry continued their activity, despite threats of floods, while the storm cut 73%, or 1.38 million bpd of the US Gulf of Mexico output.

In the Middle East, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday that Tehran is ready to hold talks with Washington, if the US sanctions are to be lifted, and returns to the 2015 nuclear accord from which it withdrew last year.

Meanwhile, the UK offered to facilitate the release of the detained Iranian oil carrier Grace 1, if Iran provided guarantees that it would not head to Syria.