Oil falls on fears of recession and slow recovery in China's imports

Oil prices fell on Monday, to near multi-month lows, after the recession hit demand and data pointed to a slow recovery in China's imports of crude oil last month. Brent crude futures fell 74 cents, or 0.8%, to $94.18 a barrel by 03:30 GMT, and prices for the closest contract month recorded their lowest levels since February, last week, down 13.7% and recording their largest weekly decline since April 2020. And US West Texas Intermediate crude recorded $ 88.34 a barrel, down 67 cents, or 0.8%, extending losses, after falling 9.7% last week. Customs data showed that China, the world's largest importer of crude oil, imported 8.79 million barrels per day of crude in July, up from a four-year low in June, but still 9.5% lower than its level a year ago.