Shafaq News/Brent oil prices slid in Asian trade on Tuesday as concern about a sluggisheconomy in China bringing down demand outweighed the impact of a blockade ofoil production facilities in Libya.
Brent crudefutures were down 37 cents, or 0.48%, to $77.15 a barrel by 0156 GMT.
U.S. WestTexas Intermediate crude , which did not have a Monday settlement because ofthe U.S. Labour Day holiday, was 28 cents up from its Friday close of $73.55.
"Oilremains under pressure given lingering Chinese demand concerns. Weaker thanexpected PMI data over the weekend would have done little to ease theseworries," said Warren Patterson of ING.
China'spurchasing managers' index (PMI) hit a six-month low in August. On Monday,China posted the first decline in new export orders in eight months in July,and said new home prices grew in August at their weakest pace this year.
"Thesedemand jitters are clearly more than offsetting the supply disruptions fromLibya," Patterson said.
The UnitedNations Support Mission in Libya said it held talks on Monday to resolve adispute over control of the central bank that triggered a blockade of thecountry's most valuable commodity, sending oil production to less than half ofits usual level.
Rivalfactions concluded a draft agreement and aimed to sign it on Tuesday, the UNsaid without providing further details.
Oil exportsat Libyan ports remained halted on Monday and production curtailed, sixengineers told Reuters.
Libya'sNational Oil Corp (NOC) said on Monday it had declared force majeure on its ElFeel oil field from Sept. 2.
Totalproduction had plunged to little more than 591,000 bpd as of Aug. 28 from nearly959,000 bpd on Aug. 26, NOC said. Production was at about 1.28 million barrelsper day (bpd) on July 20.
Eightmembers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries andaffiliates, known as OPEC+, are scheduled to boost output by 180,000 bpd inOctober, a plan industry sources said is likely to go ahead regardless ofdemand worries.
"Thereare suggestions they will stick to their planned increase, however much willdepend on how much more weakness we see in the market," said ING'sPatterson.
A Reuterssurvey on Monday found OPEC's oil output last month fell to its lowest levelsince January.
Exacerbatingsupply concern, two oil tankers were attacked on Monday in the Red Sea offYemen but did not sustain major damage. The Iran-backed Houthis claimedresponsibility.
Also,Russia's Gazpromneft Moscow refinery suspended operations at one unit forrepairs. A fire broke out on Sunday after a drone strike at the plant, whichprocessed 11.6 million tons of crude oil last year.
(Reuters)