Oil prices fell in early trading on Tuesday after reports of a slowdown in China’s exports in October and the strengthening of US dollar.
At of 9.48 a.m. local time (0648 GMT), international benchmark Brent crude was trading at $84.29 per barrel, down 1.04% from Monday’s closing price of $85.18 per barrel in the previous trading session.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was trading at the same time at $79.94 per barrel, up 1.08 per cent from Monday’s closing price of $80.82 per barrel.
Oil prices declined on Tuesday after China’s customs service reported a 6.4 per cent year-on-year drop in exports to $274.8 billion. However, the strengthening of the US dollar against other currencies hampered oil prices.
Demand for oil fell as the US dollar index rose 0.20 per cent to 105.257, making oil more expensive for other currency traders. However, the decision by the world’s biggest oil exporters, Russia and Saudi Arabia, to extend additional voluntary production cuts until the end of the year limited further price declines.
Saudi Arabia decided to cut production by an additional 1 million barrels per day (bpd) following a 500,000 bpd cut until December 2024, while Russia announced a decline of more than 300,000 bpd in crude and refined product exports in November compared to the May-June average.
