Oil declines on China worries despite tighter US supply

Shafaq News / Oil prices edged down in early trading on Wednesday, extending losses from a 1% drop in the previous session, as the lingering impact of weak economic data from China, the world's biggest oil importer, outweighed declining U.S. stockpiles.

Brent crude futures fell 21 cents to $84.68 a barrel at 0249 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) slipped 20 cents $80.79 a barrel. Both benchmarks had weakened to their lowest since Aug. 8 on Tuesday.

"Concerns that China's faltering economy will weigh on demand offset tight supply in the oil market," ANZ analysts said in a client note.

"Crude inventories at the Cushing hub are seen to be falling to their lowest level since April. Asian refineries are also snapping up all available US cargoes of oil," they added.

U.S. crude stocks dropped by about 6.2 million barrels last week, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures. That was a much bigger draw than the 2.3 million drop analysts polled by Reuters expected.

(Reuters)