Oil futures fell Tuesday, on track for back-to-back losses as investors remained worried about the demand outlook for crude as the Federal Reserve and other major central banks aggressively tighten monetary policy in an effort to wring out stubborn inflation.
Price action
-
West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery
CL.1,
-1.19% CLZ22,
-1.19%
fell $1.18, or 1.4%, to $83.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. -
December Brent crude
BRNZ22,
-1.21% ,
the global benchmark, was down $1.29, or 1.4%, at $91.97 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. January Brent
BRN00,
-1.03% BRNF23,
-1.03% ,
the most actively traded contract, was down $1.32, or 1.4%, at $91.94 a barrel. -
Back on Nymex, November gasoline
RBX22,
+0.33%
fell 1.5% to $2.688 a gallon, while November heating oil
HOX22,
-0.65%
was off 1.2% at $3,875 a gallon. -
November natural gas
NGX22,
was off 0.4% at $5.177 per million British thermal units.
Market drivers
Oil lost ground Monday after lackluster September crude import data from China.
While imports rose to 9.8 billion barrels for the month, imports since the beginning of the year are still 4.3% down on the equivalent period last year, analysts at Commerzbank, wrote in a note.
“At a good 9.9 million barrels per day, the moving 12-month average remained below the 10 million mark for the second month running. The last time this happened was three years ago. In all likelihood, China is thus set to register a decline in crude oil imports for the second consecutive year despite signs of revival in the past two months and the fact that higher imports are likely in the coming months,” they wrote.
WTI is down 33% and Brent is off nearly 37% from March highs seen after Russia’s late-February invasion of Ukraine. Crude has been stuck in a trading range in recent weeks.
