Oil prices fell in Asia Monday after a sharp slowdown in Chinese industrial production raised concerns about slackening demand in the world's top energy consumer, analysts said.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for October delivery eased $96 cents to $91.31, while Brent crude for October tumbled 54 cents to $96.57 in afternoon trade.
"Oil has come off a fair bit as investors are taking in the weak Chinese industrial production data released over the weekend," Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, told AFP.
"The figure feeds into the continuing story about slowing demand in China," he added.
China said Saturday that industrial output grew 6.9 percent last month, its weakest rate since December 2008.
The key indicator slumped from 9.0 percent growth in July and was also well short of the 8.7 percent median increase in a survey of 15 economists by The Wall Street Journal.
