RIYADH: Global oil prices fell on Monday, backing off last week’s gains, as questions over China’s economy outweighed output cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+. Brent crude lost 77 cents, or 1.01 percent, to trade at $75.84 a barrel by 10:00 a.m. Saudi time. US West Texas Intermediate crude was down 76 cents, or 1.06 percent, to $71.02 a barrel. Last week, Brent posted a gain of 2.4 percent, and WTI rose 2.3 percent. Several prominent banks have cut their 2023 gross domestic product growth forecasts for China after May data last week showed the post-COVID recovery in the world’s second-largest economy was faltering. Uzbekistan to buy 2.8bn cubic meters of Russian gas per year Uzbekistan will start importing 9 million cubic meters of Russian natural gas daily from Oct. 1 under a deal it has signed with Russia’s Gazprom, the Central Asian nation’s energy ministry said on Monday. This volume corresponds to about 2.8 billion cubic meters a year; the agreement is for two years. The gas imports will cover shortages during the cold season, it said in a statement. The ministry did not say at what price it would buy the gas, but it will be delivered through the reversed Soviet-era pipeline connecting Central Asia to Russia. Iraq launches gas exploration licensing Iraq has launched its sixth licensing round for gas exploration in several of its provinces, the oil ministry said on Sunday. The latest licensing round includes 11 blocks in the provinces of Nineveh, Anbar and Najaf, the oil ministry said in a video announcement. Saudi crude exports drop Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports fell to a five-month low in April 2023, as it slumped by 207,000 barrels per day month-on-month to 7.31 million bpd, according to a report released by the Joint Organisations Data Initiative. It noted that Saudi Arabia pumped 10.46 million bpd of crude oil in April, down by 3,000 bpd compared to the previous month. The report further pointed out that the Kingdom’s crude inventories rose by 1.98 million barrels to 149.4 million barrels. Even though Saudi Arabia’s exports of refined products rose by 75,000 bpd to 1.547 million bpd in April, the Kingdom’s domestic refineries processed 42,000 bpd less crude at 2.69 million bpd. In an attempt to stabilize the global oil market, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and its allies, known as OPEC+, in October 2022, agreed to cut output by 2 million bpd, which equals to about 2 percent of global demand, from November until the end of 2023. Later in April 2023, Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ members announced further cuts of around 1.2 million bpd. Saudi Arabia pledged to reduce output by 500,000 bpd. Later in June, the Kingdom announced an additional cut of 1 million bpd for the month of July. On the other hand, the Kingdom’s diesel imports rose by 71,000 bpd month-on-month in April, hitting the highest level since November 2018. (With input from Reuters)