Oil is declining, affected by Chinese data and Libya’s resumption of production

Oil prices continued to decline today for the second session after Chinese growth data came in the second quarter weaker than expected, which fueled concerns about demand in the second largest oil consumer in the world, and Libya also resumed production at the beginning of the week, Brent crude futures fell 91 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $78.96 a barrel by 06:28 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude fell 87 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $74.55 a barrel. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that China’s gross domestic product rose 6.3 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, while analysts had expected a growth of 7.3 percent, and that the post-Covid recovery quickly faltered amid lower demand in China.