Crude Prices Fall on Demand Worries

By Timothy Puko 

Oil prices are hitting new lows, including Brent crude's first move below $100 in more than a year, on concern that demand won't rise fast enough to absorb new supply.

Light, sweet crude futures for October delivery dropped $1.38, or 1.5%, to $91.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The global Brent contract was down $1.22, or 1.2%, to $99.60 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange.

Chinese imports declined in August for the second straight month, government officials reported, reigniting concerns about the global economy, analysts said. Oil imports did actually increase incrementally, but not enough to excite investors who expect that growth to slow in the coming months, analysts at Citigroup Inc. said in a note.

A lot of the reaction is a matter of perception, said Gene McGillian, a broker and analyst at Tradition Energy. The Chinese data adds to concern from poor U.S. jobs data that erased gains on Friday, he said. The Japanese economy is also contracting and there is lingering uncertainty from the United Kingdom where Scottish voters look increasingly interested in voting for independence, noted Matt Smith, an analyst at consultant Schneider Electric SA in Louisville, Ky.

"The economic malaise hanging over the market seems to be driving us lower," Mr. McGillian said.

Brent hadn't dipped below $100 a barrel since June 2013. It traded Monday as low as $99.36 a barrel, the lowest intraday price since it hit $98.76 on May 1, 2013. It was also the lowest U.S. price since January.

A potential cease fire in Ukraine is also bearish for crude prices. But there is still a lot of uncertainty about how Ukraine, the Scottish referendum and ongoing Middle East turmoil could affect the price of oil.

"All these events have direct implications for oil demand, oil supply and oil prices and indirect implications via risk sentiment and currency movements. We just do not know what they are yet," writes David Hufton of brokerage PVM.

Front-month October reformulated gasoline blendstock, or RBOB, was down 4.15 cents, or 1.6%, to $2.5419 a gallon. October diesel lost 2.59 cents, or 0.9%, to $2.7933 a gallon.

Cassie Werber contributed to this article.

Write to Timothy Puko at tim.puko @wsj.com

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