Oil prices went down over the weekend as a result in a dip in Asian stock markets, which has triggered concerns of a global growth rate decline, writers Reuters.

A barrel of European reference crude, Brent, costs USD 112.62 Monday morning against USD 113.01 Friday afternoon. Meanwhile, US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, trades concurrently at USD 109.88 per barrel against USD 110.43 Friday afternoon.

At the same time, investors are concerned about protracted lockdowns in China, the second largest economy in the world.

”China’s ongoing lockdowns could continue to weigh on the near-term oil prices,” says CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng to Reuters.

The EU is in the process of deliberating a proposed embargo on Russian oil imports, which requires unanimity among the 27 EU nations. At the moment, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic’s votes in favor of such a sanction are contingent on an exemption allowing them to continue buying Russian oil.

Meanwhile, one of the world’s top crude oil importers, Japan, has announced that the nation will ban Russian oil imports ”in principle.”

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