Oil prices turned to the upside again, recovering their losses in a volatile session on Monday.
Brent crude rose to $95.33 a barrel, while US crude rose to $89.26.
Fears of a decline in demand due to pessimistic economic prospects, have overcome the impact Positive economic data from China and the United States.
The prices of the nearest month to maturity of Brent crude recorded their lowest levels since February last week, declining 13.7%, and recording their largest weekly decline since April 2020. Also, the US West Texas Intermediate crude lost 9.7%, as fears of a recession that could harm demand for oil pressured prices.
“Last week’s price action left no doubt that demand fears due to a possible recession have the upper hand over supply concerns,” said BVM analyst Stephen Brennock.
Both benchmarks recovered some of Friday’s losses after job growth in the United States, the world’s largest oil consumer, rose better than expected in July.
On Sunday, China also surprised markets with faster-than-expected growth in exports.
Customs data showed that China, the world’s largest importer of crude oil, imported 8.79 million barrels per day of crude in July, up from a four-year low in June, but still 9.5% below its level a year ago.
Commenting on the movement of oil, oil expert Mohammed Al-Shatti said that there are great concerns regarding demand, and experts have already adjusted their estimates of the levels of demand for oil.
He added that the markets are also affected by the rise in the price of the dollar against other currencies, as the higher the dollar, the greater the pressure on oil.
He said, “The return of Libyan supplies to the levels of 1.2 million barrels, will increase the quantities supplied, in addition to the presence of another influential factor, which is the absence of a decline in Russian crude oil exports, which remained at acceptable levels and not as previously expected.”