Oil prices plunged to two-week lows in the Asian session after recording two consecutive days of declines due to gloomy Chinese economic sentiment.
At the time of writing, Brent crude oil futures were trading bleakly at around $83.40 a barrel after falling nearly 2% on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, US WTI oil trading declined at around $79.30 per barrel following a 2.2% loss recorded in the previous session.
An unexpected drop in US crude oil supplies last week of 6 million barrels failed to impact trading in the black commodity due to stronger factors from China.
China's economic uncertainty has put the crude oil market under pressure, raising concerns about slowing demand from one of the world's top oil consumers.
This follows a series of recent dismal Chinese economic data, which signal continued weakness in its recovery from Covid-19.
In addition, the possibility of a continued increase in US interest rates following the release of the minutes of the latest FOMC meeting also has an impact on the market.
The Federal Reserve (Fed) is seen as maintaining its position to bring back inflation, saying there is a significant risk that price pressures will increase.
