Oil is falling before the announcement of US and Chinese data and OPEC + cuts support the market

Oil prices fell in early Asian trade on Monday as investors were cautious ahead of new economic data from the United States and China this week, while expected cuts in crude production from Saudi Arabia and Russia supported the market.

By 0107 GMT, Brent crude futures were down 22 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $78.25 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 29 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $73.57 a barrel.

“Oil traders may be cautious ahead of US CPI data and a group of Chinese economic data this week,” said CMC Markets analyst Tina Ting.

However, she added that crude prices may rise after the OPEC + group announced its plans for further supply cuts.

The two benchmarks rose more than 4 percent last week, touching the highest level since May and recording a rise for the second week in a row, after Saudi Arabia and Russia, the world’s two largest oil exporters, pledged to cut supplies in August.

Saudi Arabia pledged to extend production cuts of 1 million barrels per day until August, while Russia will cut crude exports by 500,000 barrels per day. A government source told Reuters on Friday that Russia will use the crude to produce more fuel to meet domestic demand.