Brent crude futures fell $1.39, or 1.87 percent, to $73.06 per barrel upon settlement, and US West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.45, or 2.05 percent, to $69.22 per barrel.
Brent fell by more than seven percent this week, while West Texas Intermediate crude lost about eight percent, which is their largest weekly decline since September 2, after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reducedOPEC) and the International Energy Agency, their forecasts for global oil demand in 2024 and 2025.
The economy in China, the world’s largest oil importer, grew in the third quarter at the slowest pace since early 2023, but data on consumption and industrial production exceeded expectations in September.
“China is important in the equation in terms of demand, so that has a big impact on prices here today,” said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital in New York, according to Reuters.
Refinery production also decreased China For the sixth month in a row, weak fuel consumption and declining refining margins negatively affected processing operations.
“We cannot ignore the impact of electric vehicles in China,” said Neil Atkinson, an independent energy analyst based in Paris and former head of the IEA’s petroleum division.
He added, “There are many factors at play here, the economic weakness in China, but also the move towards converting the transportation sector to electricity.”
Electric vehicle sales in China jumped 42 percent in August and reached a record high of more than one million vehicles.
The Chinese central bank has put forward two financing plans that will initially pump 800 billion yuan ($112.38 billion) into the stock market through newly launched monetary policy tools.
“Chinese data shows temporary signs of improvement, but the latest briefings on additional economic stimulus have market participants feeling frustrated,” said Rishi Rajanala, partner at Aegis Hedging.
US President Joe Biden said today that there is an opportunity to deal with Israel and Iran in a way that could potentially end their conflict in the Middle East for a while.
Alex Hudis, an analyst at Stone
On Friday, the Hezbollah group in Lebanon announced the transition to a new and escalating phase in the confrontation with the Israeli forces after the killing of Yahya Sinwar, head of the Hamas political bureau.
This dashed earlier hopes today that Sinwar’s death would hasten the end of an escalating war in the Middle East.
The US Energy Information Administration said yesterday, Thursday, that crude production in the United States reached a record level at the end of last week, as production rose by 100,000 barrels per day in the week ending October 11 to record 13.5 million barrels per day after recording the previous peak at 13.4 million barrels per day two months ago. .
Oil prices received support after data issued by the US Energy Information Administration showed a decline in inventories of crude oil, gasoline, and distillates in the United States last week.
US retail sales rose slightly more than expected in September, and investors still see a 92 percent chance that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in November.
