This Is Why Oil Prices Are Starting to Fall Again

This Is Why Oil Prices Are Starting to Fall Again

A weak outlook for global oil demand has revived concerns about the slow pace of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, with especially weak gasoline demand in the US at the end of the summer driving season.

Prices should have been supported by positive industrial data from the US and China. Oil inventories also declined for the sixth week in a row, which would usually have been another positive for the price.

Instead, a number of factors are now testing prices, including the approaching decline in China's crude imports in September and October which are set to fall for the first time in five months as oil buyers struggle to find room to store record volumes of crude that were snapped up while prices were low.

As China's diesel and jet kerosene exports slumped