Singapore/London — Oil prices fell on Friday, as weakening demand in China and surging US output weighed on markets, despite supply woes in Venezuela and Iran as well as oil cartel Opec’s production cuts. Brent crude futures were at $76.60 a barrel at 10.15am GMT, down 72c, or 0.9%. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 39c, or 0.6%, at $65.56. China’s May crude oil imports eased away from a record high hit the month before, customs data showed on Friday, with state-run refineries entering planned maintenance. May shipments were 39.05-million tonnes, or 9.2-million barrels per day (bpd). This compared with 9.6 million bpd in April. Further weighing on prices has been surging US output, which hit another record last week at 10.8-million bpd. That’s a 28% gain in two years. It puts the US close to becoming the world’s biggest crude producer, edging nearer to the 11-million bpd churned out by Russia. The surge in US production has pulled down WTI into a discount vers...
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