Tokyo, October 19 (BNA): Oil prices fell on Tuesday, with Brent falling for a second day in a row, after Chinese data showed slowing economic growth and a decline in US factory production in September, raising new concerns about demand amid the incomplete recovery from the virus epidemic. Corona. .
Brent crude was down 43 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $83.90 a barrel by 0132 GMT, after falling 0.6 percent on Monday. Reuters reported that the contract is still up about 7% this month.
And US oil fell 33 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $ 82.11 a barrel, after rising 0.2 percent in the previous session and about 10 percent this month.
Factory production in the United States fell by the most in seven months last month as a global shortage of semiconductors slowed auto production, further evidence that supply constraints are weighing on economic growth.
In China, the world’s second-largest economy, the bottlenecks also contributed to the drop in growth to its lowest level in one year as energy shortages and intermittent outbreaks of the coronavirus hit the country.
China’s daily crude oil processing rate fell again last month to the lowest level since May last year.
But analysts said that with temperatures dropping as winter approaches in the northern hemisphere, oil, coal and gas prices are likely to remain high.
“A cold winter has the potential to lift energy prices further,” commodity analysts at Citi Research said in a note, after raising their forecast for Brent oil for the rest of 2021 to $85 a barrel from $74 a barrel.
Cold weather is already starting to take hold in China, with temperatures expected to drop to near freezing point in regions of the North, according to AccuWeather.com.
Also helping to keep a lid on prices, US oil production is rising. Production in the largest shale formation in the United States is expected to rise next month, according to an official report.
HF