Oil prices fell on Tuesday, extending losses from the previous session after economic data from China, the world's largest crude importer, spurred renewed concerns about a possible global recession that could affect energy demand.
By 00: 03 GMT, Brent crude LCOc 1 futures fell 90 cents, or 1%, to $94.20 a barrel. WTI crude CLc 1 futures fell by 81 cents, or 0.9%, to $88.60 a barrel.
Oil futures fell by 3% during the previous session.
After disappointing economic data from China, prices fell. In July, the country's central bank cut lending rates to revive demand, as data showed that the economy was slowing unexpectedly, with factory and retail activity squeezed by Beijing's zero-COVID policy and a property crisis.
After Beijing issued more quotas in June and July, Chinese fuel product exports will rebound to near the highest level for the year, although broader curbs are going to cap shipments at seven-year lows for 2022, analysts and traders said. The US Energy Information Administration EIA said in its productivity report on Monday that the total output in the major US shale oil basins will increase to 9.049 million barrels per day in September, the highest since March 2020.
Market participants were waiting for industry data on US crude stockpiles to be released later on Tuesday. A preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday that oil and gasoline stockpiles likely fell last week, while distillate inventories went up.
Investors watched the talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Oil supply could go up if Iran and the United States accept an offer from the European Union, which would remove sanctions on Iranian oil exports, analysts said. An EU official said Iran responded to the EU's final text to save a 2015 nuclear deal on Monday, but provided no details on Iran's response to the text. The Iranian foreign minister called for the United States to show flexibility to deal with three remaining issues.