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Brent crude futures for August dipped 14 cents or 0.1% to
$123.44 a barrel at 1045 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate
crude for July was at $121.88 a barrel, down 23 cents or 0.2%.
China's May exports jumped 16.9% from a year earlier as easing
COVID curbs allowed some factories to restart, the fastest
growth since January this year and more than double analysts'
expectations.
"Oil prices have remained flat, with the lockdown of the Minhang
district in Shanghai spurring China COVID-zero part two fears,
crimping demand in Asia today," said Jeffrey Halley, OANDA's
senior market analyst for Asia Pacific.
"That said, it is indicative of how tight supplies are that oil
has not retreated on that news today."
Parts of Shanghai began imposing new lockdown restrictions on
Thursday, with residents of Minhang district ordered to stay
home for two days to control COVID transmission risks.
"The export performance is impressive in the context of the
country's multi-city lockdowns in the month," Stephen Innes,
managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said in a note.
Meanwhile, peak summer gasoline demand in the United States
continued to provide a floor to prices.
U.S. gasoline stocks unexpectedly dropped, data from the Energy
Information Administration (EIA) showed on Wednesday, indicating
resilience in demand for the motor fuel during the peak summer
period despite sky-high pump prices.
"It's hard to see significant downside in the coming months,
with the gasoline market likely to only tighten further as we
move deeper into driving season," said ING's head of commodities
research Warren Patterson.
(Additional reporting by Florence Tan and Jeslyn Lerh; Editing
by Jane Merriman and Edmund Blair)
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