RIYADH: Oil prices fell on Monday, paring early gains as investors took profit from a surge in the previous session, albeit in the shadow of supply fear as the EU prepares an import ban on Russian crude and with a limited increase in OPEC output.
Brent crude futures were down $1.66, or 1.5 percent, at $109.89 a barrel at 0356 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dropped $1.55, or 1.4 percent, to $108.94 a barrel.
Both benchmarks, which jumped about 4 percent last Friday, earlier climbed by more than $1 a barrel, with WTI reaching its highest since March 28 at $111.71.
China’s April oil refinery output plunges to a two-year low
China processed 11 percent less crude oil in April than a year earlier, with daily throughput falling to the lowest since March 2020 as refiners slashed operations on weaker demand due to widespread COVID-19 lockdowns.
Crude throughput last month was 51.81 million tons, equivalent to 12.61 million barrels per day (bpd), data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday.
This compared with 13.8 million bpd in March and 14.09 million bpd in April last year.
Processing volumes for the January-April period were down 3.8 percent on the year at 223.25 million tons or 13.58 million bpd.
(With input from Reuters)
