Oil slides amid recession fears, slow recovery in China imports

KEY POINTS

• Oil prices dropped on Monday, hovering near multi-month lows, as recession fears hurt demand outlook and data pointed to a slow recovery in China’s crude imports last month.
• Brent crude futures dropped 74 cents, or 0.8%, to $94.18 a barrel by 0039 GMT.
• China, the world’s top crude importer, imported 8.79 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude in July, up from a four-year low in June, but still 9.5% lower than a year ago, customs data showed.
• Oil prices dropped on Monday, hovering near multi-month lows, as recession fears hurt demand outlook and data pointed to a slow recovery in China’s crude imports last month.
• Brent crude futuresdropped 74 cents, or 0.8%, to $94.18 a barrel by 0039 GMT. Front-month prices hit the lowest levels since February last week, tumbling 13.7% and posting their largest weekly drop since April 2020.
• S. West Texas Intermediate crudewas at $88.34 a barrel, down 67 cents, or 0.8%, extending losses after a 9.7% fall last week.
• China, the world’s top crude importer, imported 8.79 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude in July, up from a four-year low in June, but still 9.5% lower than a year ago, customs data showed.
• Chinese refiners drew down stockpiles amid high crude prices and weak domestic margins even as the country’s overall exports gained momentum.
• Reflecting lower U.S. gasoline demand, and as China’s zero-Covid strategy pushes recovery further out, ANZ revised down its oil demand forecasts for 2022 and 2023 by 300,000 bpd and 500,000 bpd, respectively.
• Oil demand for 2022 is now estimated to rise by 1.8 million bpd year-on-year and settle at 99.7 million bpd, just short of pre-pandemic highs, the bank said.
• Russian crude and oil products exports continued to flow despite an impending embargo from the European Union that will take effect on Dec. 5.
• In the United States, energy firms cut the number of oil rigs by the most last week since September, the first drop in 10 weeks.
• The U.S. clean energy sector received a boost after the Senate on Sunday passed a sweeping $430 billion bill intended to fight climate change, among other issues.