Oil prices are falling on Monday morning after a sharp drop in the past week, caused by concerns about the Chinese economy.

The main negative factor for oil quotes last week was concerns about fuel demand, especially in China.

China’s State Council has warned of the risks of “irresponsibly relaxing” its anti-coronavirus measures, the South China Morning Post reported. Over the past two weeks, the number of daily new cases of COVID-19 infection in China has increased seven-fold, the WSJ wrote.

Traders are also trying to estimate how much crude will leave the market after the entry into force of the European embargo on Russian oil supplies on December 5.

“The market will no doubt be watching the OPEC+ supply data in the coming weeks as it remains to be seen how much production will actually fall after the announced 2mb/d cut,” Commerzbank’s Barbara Lambrecht wrote (ETR:CBKG). ).

Meanwhile, the number of active US oil rigs rose by 1 last week to 623, oilfield services company Baker Hughes said. The index rose for the third week in a row.

The cost of January futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange is $86.77 per barrel, which is $0.85 (0.97%) lower than the closing price of the previous session. As a result of trading last Friday, these contracts fell by $2.16 (2.4%) to $87.62 per barrel.

The price of futures for WTI oil for January at the electronic trading of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by this time fell by $0.59 (0.74%) – to $79.52 per barrel. As a result of the last session, the contract fell in price by $1.56 (1.9%) to $80.08 per barrel.

As a result of last week, Brent fell in price by 8.7%, WTI – by 10%. Both contracts ended trading at their lows since the end of September.