• Brent crude for January delivery fell 4 cents to $92.77 per barrel.
• U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude declined 18 cents, or 0.2%, to $86.35.
• China’s 19 crude oil import restrictions forced the temporary shutdown of Disney’s Shanghai resort.

Oil prices declined on Tuesday, extending losses of 1% from the previous session, as expectations of a slowdown in gasoline demand in the world’s second-largest oil user grew in response to China’s expanded Covid-19 restrictions.

At 01:12 GMT, Brent crude for January delivery fell 4 cents to $92.77 per barrel. On Monday, the December contract terminated at $94.83 per barrel, a decrease of 1%.

The price per barrel of U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude declined 18 cents, or 0.2%, to $86.35.

China’s Covid- 19 crude oil import restrictions forced the temporary shutdown of Disney’s Shanghai resort on Monday, while production of iPhones at a major contract manufacturing site could decrease by 30 percent in November.

“With China sticking to the zero-Covid policy, the oil demand outlook overshadowed a record of U.S. oil export data from last week,” said Tina Teng, an analyst at CMC Markets.

Strict pandemic restrictions have reduced China’s imports from Japan and South Korea and reduced industry activity in October.

In addition, the largest independent oil trader in the world, Vitol, stated that it sees symptoms of oil demand destruction, ANZ Research analysts wrote in a note.

U.S. oil production reached about 12 million barrels per day (bpd) in August, the greatest level since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, despite the fact that shale producers do not expect production to increase in the next months.

This is projected to result in a 300,000-barrel increase in U.S. crude oil inventories in the week ending October 28, but distillate and gasoline inventories are expected to decline, according to a preliminary Reuters poll.

The survey was conducted prior to reports from the American Petroleum Institute scheduled for Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT) and the Energy Information Administration scheduled for Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. (1430 GMT).

Brent and WTI benchmarks closed October with increases, marking their first monthly advances since May, after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, announced intentions to reduce output by 2 million barrels per day.

Monday, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) revised upward its projections for global oil consumption in the medium- and long-term, stating that $12.1 trillion in investment is required to meet this demand despite the transition to renewable energy.

US President Joe Biden has urged oil and gas firms to utilize their record profits to reduce costs for Americans and increase production or face a higher tax rate.

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