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Brent crude futures fell 42 cents, or 0.5%, to $90.18 a barrel
by 1029 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI)
futures fell 52 cents, or 0.6% to $87.02.
Both benchmarks had spiked earlier in the week after Saudi
Arabia and Russia, the world's top two oil exporters, extended
voluntary supply cuts to the year-end. These were on top of the
April cuts agreed by several OPEC+ producers running to the end
of 2024.
Market participants also digested mixed data from China. Overall
exports fell 8.8% in August year on year and imports contracted
7.3%. But crude imports surged 30.9%.
"The wind has been taken out of the bulls' sail overnight by
rising Chinese product exports last month albeit crude oil
imports rose," PVM Oil analyst Tamas Varga said.
Concerns about rising oil output from Iran and Venezuela, which
could balance out a portion on cuts from Saudi and Russia, kept
a lid on the market as well.
"At present, it is really difficult for us to see any negative
factors due to supply constraints," said CMC Markets'
Shanghai-based analyst Leon Li.
"However, we need to consider possible demand risks such as in
the fourth quarter, the market could slow into an off peak
season for oil consumption after summer demand ends."
Helping support prices, U.S. crude oil inventories were
projected to have fallen by 5.5 million barrels in the week
ending Sept. 1, according to market sources citing American
Petroleum Institute figures. [API/S]
Official inventory data from the U.S. Energy Information
Administration is due at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) on Thursday.
(Additional reporting by Trixie Yap in Singapore; editing by
Jason Neely)
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