By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was down on Friday morning in Asia, but was l as concerns about weaker economic growth eclipse expectations of a demand rebound in China.

By 12:17 ET (4:17 GMT), the price of $111.23 fell 0.722% Futures for July fell about 0.9% to $108.80, while futures dropped 0.6% to $109.20 on the last day of front-month. WTI futures have now risen for the fourth consecutive day, marking their highest level since mid-February 2022.

The Black Liquid has only seen limited gains over the past week. Brent and U.S. benchmarks have mostly traded within a range because of uncertainty in demand.

Investors are attempting to reduce their exposure to more risky assets because of rising inflation and tighter central bank monetary policy. For example, open interest in WTI Futures dropped to 1.722 Million Contracts on May 18, 2022. It was the lowest level since June 2016.

Stephen Innes (SPI Asset Management managing Director) stated in a note that “if U.S. Growth data continues to souce, oil prices may get caught up in negative stock market feedback loop.”

Asia Pacific could see a rebound in fuel demand from China, which is the largest crude oil importer. Shanghai released COVID-19 locks and Shanghaiers were able to go grocery shopping for the first time since nearly two months.

According to the Federal Highway Administration’s report on vehicle mileage, Americans are also returning to the controls of their cars, even though gasoline and diesel prices reached record levels on Thursday according to AAA Automobile Club. A bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that allows President to issue an Energy Emergency Declaration, which makes it unlawful for companies or individuals to raise gasoline and other fuel prices.

Oil gained momentum across the Atlantic due to an impending ban by the European Union on Russian oil. The bloc had proposed new sanctions to Russia for its February 24th invasion of Ukraine, but they are still not in place.

Meanwhile, Russian supply is making it tougher for Iran to sell its’ crude, with exports to China falling sharply since the war in Ukraine began as China looks to heavily discounted Russian barrels. Nearly 40 million barrels Iranian oil remain in Asia on tanks at sea, without any buyers.