Oil fell on Friday as concerns about demand come back to the fore. Oil is caught between hopes of supporting demand with the pause in the Fed's cycle of rate hikes, the surge in commercial crude reserves in the United States, and concerns about China's economic health

Around 09:45 GMT (11:45 CET), a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in August, lost 0.57% to $75.24. Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in July, dropped 0.74% to $70.10

The Chinese central bank has lowered its short-term policy rate, a measure to support activity in the world's second-largest economy as the post-COVID recovery is running out of steam. The U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) also abstained from raising rates at its June meeting on Wednesday, which should provide relief to the economy

But at the same time, the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) recorded a jump of 7.9 million barrels in commercial crude stocks in the United States last week, a significant bearish factor for “the biggest increase in 17 weeks, when the market expected a fall,” continues Plassard.

On the natural gas side, the Dutch TTF futures contract, considered the European benchmark, fell by around 15% to 35.12 euros per megawatt hour (MWh).