Oil traded at its lowest levels since early June on Tuesday, July 30, as worries about low demand in China offset the prospect of lower U.S. crude and product inventories.
Brent crude fell by 77 cents, or 0.97 percent, to $79.01 a barrel by 1317 GMT. U.S. WTI crude was down 66 cents, or 0.87 percent, at $75.15.
At their intraday lows, both contracts were down by more than $1. The front-month Brent contract traded at a low of $78.67 and WTI at $74.75, the weakest for both benchmarks since June 6.
A string of disappointing economic news from China has been weighing on commodity prices. China is the largest crude oil importer globally, and its manufacturing activity is likely to have shrunk for a third month in July, a Reuters poll showed on Monday.
“Weakening global demand growth, an unresolved economic outlook in China and still-elevated global oil inventories are continuing to weigh on prices” said Claudio Galimberti of consultancy Rystad Energy.
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Chinese leaders vowed to step up support for the economy, even though expectations on the extent of such measures have been limited. The Third Plenum policy meeting largely reiterated existing economic policy goals.
Coming up on Thursday, top ministers from OPEC+ will meet to review the market, including a plan to start unwinding some output cuts from October.
OPEC+ is an extension of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), comprising 10 OPEC member countries and 9 non-OPEC oil-producing nations. OPEC+ is a collaborative effort aimed at stabilizing the global oil market.
After Israel signaled that its response to a rocket strike in Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday, July 27 would be calculated to avoid dragging the Middle East into an all-out war, oil fell 2 percent.
Reuters contributed to this report.
