(Corrects Reuters Instrument Codes for WTI in paragraph 2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
kaydeden Muyu Xu<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Oil edged lower on Tuesday as the market waited to see if Iraqi oil exports resume, which could ease the supply tightness caused by the OPEC+ cut, while a faltering Chinese economy continued to undercut the global demand outlook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brent crude\u00a0was down 8 cents at $84.38 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 8 cents at $80.04 a barrel at 0241 GMT. WTI’s contract with September expiry was trading 7 cents lower at $80.65 a barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Crude oil struggled to keep its head above water on signs of supply tightness easing,” said Brian Martin and Daniel Hynes, analysts from ANZ Bank in a note to clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iraq’s oil minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani arrived in the Turkish capital Ankara to discuss several issues including the resumption of oil exports through the Ceyhan oil terminal, a source in the minister’s office told Reuters on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turkey halted Iraq’s 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) of exports through the northern Iraq-Turkey pipeline on March 25 after an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More Iraqi crude oil coming on to the market could help alleviate the supply crunch for sour crude as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the allies (OPEC+) prolonged and deepened production cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, gloom over the economic outlook in China, the world’s second biggest oil consumer, continued to pressure oil prices and heighten worries about fuel demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China’s central bank on Monday cut its one-year lending rate only moderately to the disappointment of the market which had expected more aggressive stimulus steps amid a rapid loss in economic momentum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“China’s economic weakness is weighing on oil prices and will create a ceiling for them this year, especially as Beijing appears committed to avoiding large-scale fiscal stimulus,” Eurasia Group said in a note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
J.P.Morgan analysts estimated that global demand growth for mobility fuels decelerated to 0.6 mbd year-on-year for the reference week ending August 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Year-to-date, with China’s base effect now out of the numbers, growth in demand for mobility fuels slipped to 1.6 mbd compared to the same period last year, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Putting a floor to oil prices,\u00a0U.S. crude\u00a0oil and gasoline inventories were expected to have fallen last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed, as the American Petroleum Institute industry group is due to release data later on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, is due to release its own data on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The market is also focusing on preliminary U.S. August PMI data and the Federal Reserve’s annual economic symposium at Jackson Hole both due later this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
U.S. economic data over recent weeks has bolstered expectations for the Fed to keep rates higher for longer, putting a dampener on the demand outlook for oil and a broad range of consumer goods.<\/p>\n