After lackluster economic data, the market noted investor concern about oil demand in China. Black gold prices started the week in the red.

Around 09:25 GMT (11:25 a.m. Paris) on Monday, a barrel of Brent North Sea oil for October delivery was worth $69.96 in London, down 0.89% from Friday's close. In New York, the American barrel of WTI for the month of September lost at the same time 1.02% to 67.74 dollars. The National Bureau of Statistics (BNS) shared the latest figures for industrial production in China on Monday, which in July was up 6.4% year on year. However, this pace is lower than that of the previous month as well as analysts' expectations. The country, which had largely controlled the Covid-19 epidemic since the spring of 2020, has been facing a resurgence of contamination on its soil since last month. Last week, the International Energy Agency (IEA) lowered its global oil demand forecast for this year due to the advance of the pandemic with the Delta variant. The IEA now forecasts a 5.3 million barrels per day (mbd) increase in demand this year (-0.3 mbd compared to the last forecast), to reach 96.2 mbd.