Crude oil closes: recession fears weigh on demand outlook Crude oil closed sharply lower at a new low in more than a week

News on August 31, driven by market concerns about the economic outlook and energy demand, as well as news reports that helped ease concerns about tight supply, crude oil futures closed sharply lower and hit a new low
in more than a week.

October futures for West Texas Intermediate crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $5.
37, or 5.
5%, to settle at $91.
64 a barrel, the lowest level since Aug.
22, the ICE Futures Exchange October Brent crude futures fell $5.
78, or 5.
5%, to $99.
31 a barrel, the lowest level since Aug.
22, and the most actively traded November contract fell $5.
09, or nearly 5%, to $97.
84 a barrel.

。

September gasoline futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 6.
4 percent to $2.
6944 a gallon and September heating oil fell 2.
4 percent to $
3.
8171 a gallon.
Natural gas futures fell nearly 3.
2% to $
9.
042 per million British thermal in October.

Analysts at Kansas City-based StoneX Energy wrote in a communication Tuesday that oil investors are concerned that inflation will weaken the global economy
.
"Inflation in many of the world's largest economies is near double digits, leading to more aggressive rate hikes, which could dampen economic growth and weigh on fuel demand
.
"

News coverage on Tuesday (August 30) also helped ease concerns about
tight supply.
A source in the OPEC+ delegation told Russia's TASS news agency that OPEC and its allies are not currently discussing the possibility of
cutting oil production.
Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group, said that added to the pressure on oil prices on
Tuesday.
The news report contradicted comments made last week by Saudi Arabia's energy minister, who suggested OPEC might consider cutting production; OPEC+ will hold its next meeting
on Monday.

Flynn said Iran's international organization tweeted Tuesday that Iran and the United States reached an agreement to restart the Iran nuclear deal, which also weighed on
oil prices.
The newspaper quoted a former official at the International Atomic Energy Agency as saying the agreement would be announced
in the next two to three weeks.
Washington and Tehran have not officially announced an agreement
.
However, a State Department spokesman tweeted that the report was false
.

Unrest in Libya and Iraq pushed crude oil higher on Monday, while traders were also closely watching the protests in Iraq after influential cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said he would retire from politics
.
According to Reuters, Sadr's supporters began besieging the Maginu oil field near Basra and the 210,000-barrel-per-day Basra refinery
from Monday night.
However, the report said that so far, Iraq's crude exports from OPEC's second-largest producer have not been affected
.

Crude oil prices rose on Monday as U.
S.
stocks tumbled for the second straight day as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's comments on Friday rattled
financial markets.
Powell's comments dashed hopes that the Fed would ease monetary policy tightening amid signs that inflation may be peaking
.

Meanwhile, the U.
S.
Energy Information Administration will release weekly U.
S.
oil supply data
on Wednesday morning.

According to a survey conducted by S&P Global Commodity Insights, analysts on average expect the EIA to report a 1.
9 million barrel
reduction in U.
S.
domestic crude supply.
They also expect gasoline inventories to shrink by more than 1.
3 million barrels and distillate inventories to fall by nearly 1.
2 million barrels
.