Oil prices retreat on soft demand

Oil prices dropped Monday as traders believed global oil demand was weaker than expected.

Falling Chinese imports boosted concerns that slower growth will damp the global oil demand.

The General Administration of Customs (GAC) said Monday that China exported 208 billion U.S. dollars worth of goods in August, up 9.4 percent year-on-year, slightly above the market consensus of 9.0 percent.

While August's imports continued to contract and stood at 159 billion dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 2.4 percent, compared to the 1.6 percent drop in July and the market consensus projection of a 3.0 percent rise, the GAC said.

The increasing output from Libya also weighed on the crude prices.

A National Oil Corp. spokesman said Monday that Libya is pumping 740,000 barrels crude a day, up from a monthly average of 400,000 a day in July.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery moved down 63 cents to settle at 92.66 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for July delivery lost 62 cents to close at 100.2 dollars a barrel.