• WTI tumbled below $80.00 per barrel as Crude Oil bids crumble.
• Crude Oil markets are extending a downside slide as Chinese demand slumps.
• WTI bull run sputters, bids within touch range of long-term averages.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude Oil fell on Tuesday as barrel traders grow fearful at the prospect of a slowdown in Chinese demand for fossil fuels. A decline in American Petroleum Institute (API) week-on-week barrel counts helped to bolster WTI prices into a weak recovery in late Tuesday trading, but an equivalent buildup of distillate products limited bullish potential.

China recently posted a slowdown in growth figures for the second quarter, hobbling broad-market expectations of a surge in Chinese demand for fossil fuels. After spending most of 2024 waiting for an uptick in Chinese Crude Oil demand, barrel traders have flipped to concerns that limited Chinese growth won’t provide enough barrel demand to eat up overhang in global markets.

The API reported yet another contraction in overall Crude Oil supply, showing a -4.44 million barrel contraction in privately counted supplies for the week ended June 12. Despite the extended decline in barrel counts, fully-refined gasoline stocks <wbr>rose 365K barrels, with an additional buildup of partially-refined distillate inventories of 4.92 million barrels as end-chain refiners struggle to keep up with the availability of Crude Oil products.