Oil declines as traders weigh mideast supply after Biden trip

Oil eased as investors weighed the odds of more supply from the Middle East after a landmark trip to the region by US President Joe Biden.

West Texas Intermediate edged lower in early Asian trading, following last week’s drop of almost 7 per cent as investors fretted that a global slowdown may hurt demand and the dollar hit a record. US energy envoy Amos Hochstein said he is confident Gulf producers will increase output after Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia.

Investors also focused on the return of crude from Libya. Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah said that the country’s exports are on track for a full resumption after months of outages as he justified his replacement of the leadership at state-run oil company National Oil Corporation.

Crude has slumped since mid-June as concerns about a potential recession ripped through commodity markets, eroding the gains that followed the Ukrainian crisis. While the drop has been a boost for the US administration, Biden remains eager to get the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to add supplies to bring prices down further and help quell inflation.

In India, meanwhile, gasoline and diesel sales during the first half of July dropped from last month as seasonal rains cut demand in the third-biggest energy consumer. The drop was the first monthly decline in three months.