Oil prices fell during trading on Wednesday, with renewed investor concerns about the prospects for the recovery of the Chinese economy following the release of official data showing that the gross domestic product grew at a slower pace than expected in the fourth quarter of last year.
Futures prices for standard Brent crude for March delivery fell by 0.69% to $77.75 per barrel at 09:17 AM Mecca time.
Futures prices for US Nymex crude for February delivery fell by 0.79% to $71.83 per barrel.
The pace of growth of the Chinese economy - the second largest oil consumer in the world - accelerated to 5.2% in the last quarter of 2023 on an annual basis, up from 4.9% in the third quarter, but it fell below expectations at 5.3% during the same period, according to data from the Bureau of Statistics. National issued today.
Priyanka Sachdeva, chief market analyst at Philip Nova, said in a comment to Reuters that the Chinese economic growth data does not put an end to the headwinds regarding demand for crude oil, as the expectations for China’s economy in the years 2024 and 2025 are still bleak.
