Crude-oil futures fell in Asian trading on Monday after disappointing economic data from China added to worries about weakness in European economies and rising U.S. oil output.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange light, sweet crude futures for delivery in May traded at $89.19 a barrel at 0635 GMT--down $2.10 in the Globex electronic session. May Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $1.68 to $101.43 a barrel.
Both benchmarks have shed more than 9% this month as investors fret that continued economic worries in the euro zone will spill into other markets and dampen future demand for oil. Brent crude is now at its lowest since mid-July.
"I don't think we're seeing a slowdown in Chinese oil consumption," Facts Global Energy consultancy analyst Alex Yap said noting that Chinese oil demand has been relatively strong recently. "But with only moderate economic growth in China this will definitely add to bearish sentiment," he said.
Data released earlier on Monday showed Chinese refineries processed 40.83 million metric tons of crude in March--up 5.5% on year.
China is the world's second-biggest consumer of oil and in December last year its crude imports surpassed those of the U.S. for the first time.
Last week the International Energy Agency and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries both trimmed outlooks for 2013 world-wide demand.
Money managers cut big bets on rising Nymex crude oil prices by 4.4% last week--the first drop in four weeks.
Demand is expected to pick up in coming months as summer demand kicks in and many refineries, especially in Europe and Asia, restart after maintenance.
"The current weakness is transient and expected to recede by the end of the second quarter," Barclays analyst Miswin Mahesh said. "Until then the next few weeks are likely to see limited upward catalysts at the front of the curve," he said.
Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for May--the benchmark gasoline contract--fell 419 points to $2.7599 a gallon while May heating oil traded at $2.8434--284 points lower.
ICE gasoil for May changed hands at $854.25 a metric ton--down $1.75 from Friday's settlement.
