Oil Prices Ease On China Demand Dip, Record US Output

Oil prices fell on June 8 as weakening demand in China and surging U.S. output weighed on markets despite supply woes in Venezuela and Iran on top of OPEC’s production cuts.

Brent crude futures fell 45 cents to $16.87 a barrel (bbl) by 8:22 a.m. CDT (13:33 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures recovered some earlier losses to trade 8 cents down at $65.87. On the week, both contracts were set to trade flat.

China’s May crude oil imports eased away from a record high hit the previous month, customs data showed on June 8, with state-run refineries entering planned maintenance.