Saudi Arabia has slashed oil prices for Asia, signaling that demand in its main market remains sluggish due to a slowing economy and rising coronavirus cases in China. Brent oil futures fell from nearly $125 a barrel in June to less than $80, with prices down 7.5% this week. High interest rates and a strong dollar hit demand in the US, Europe and China. Kristalina Georgieva, head of the International Monetary Fund, said this week that she expects one-third of the global economy to enter recession this year. The state-controlled company Saudi Aramco cut prices for all types of oil that will be shipped to Asia in February. Arab Light's flagship grade was cut to $1.80 a barrel above the regional benchmark, $1.45 less than this month's price. This is roughly in line with Bloomberg's survey of traders and refiners.    However, many oil traders expect prices to recover in the second quarter as the Covid outbreak abates in China and possibly Russian supplies are cut due to sanctions related to the Ukraine conflict.  There are some encouraging signs that oil and energy consumption will recover quickly from the current wave of illnesses. Traffic congestion in 15 major cities increased by almost 60% by December 28 compared to the previous week, but this figure is still 30% lower than in January 2021, according to an index compiled by BloombergNEF based on data from Baidu Inc..  China's oil consumption will return to pre-crisis levels of growth by the third quarter, while LNG demand will rise about 6% this year, according to Zhou Mi, an analyst at the Chaos Research Institute in Shanghai, according to Wood Mackenzie Ltd. Oil company Sinopec's research arm believes total energy consumption, including coal and gas, as well as oil and renewables, will be 2% higher this year than in 2022.  The industry consultant expects jet fuel demand, closely linked to tourism and travel, to reach 90% of pre-pandemic levels by the 4th quarter. #BRENT# by Bloomberg