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Oil prices fall 1% as economic worries outweigh tanker tensions

18 June 2019 04:13 (UTC +04:00)

Oil prices fell more than 1% on Monday after more poor Chinese economic figures fanned fears of lower worldwide oil demand, ONA reports quoting Reuters.

Brent crude futures lost $1.07 to settle at $60.94 a barrel, a 1.73 percent loss. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 58 cents to settle at $51.93 a barrel, a 1.10 percent loss.

Prices have fallen around 20% since a 2019 high reached in April, in part due to concerns about the U.S.-China trade war and disappointing economic data.

China’s industrial output growth unexpectedly slowed to a more than 17-year low, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday. It grew 5.0% in May from a year earlier, missing analysts’ expectations of 5.5% and well below April’s 5.4%.

U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping could meet at the G20 summit in Japan later this month. Trump has said he would meet with Xi at the summit, although China has not confirmed the meeting.