Oil prices today, August 4, this week, oil prices continued to fall with a longer slide than the previous 3 weeks. Oil prices decreased by about 5%. (Source: Reuters)

Oil prices fell nearly 2% in early trading after Israeli officials said they wanted to avoid dragging the Middle East into a full-scale war, although they would still retaliate against Hezbollah, which carried out a rocket attack on the Golan Heights last weekend that killed 12 children and teenagers.

Investors worried that demand from China could weaken while OPEC+ looks set to continue its plan to increase supply and a possible Gaza ceasefire that could help reduce geopolitical risks sent oil prices tumbling about 1% to a seven-week low on Monday.

Oil prices unexpectedly surged in the third trading session due to concerns about the spread of conflict in the Middle East after the assassination of a Hamas political leader in Iran, along with continued declines in US oil inventories and a fall in the USD index. In this session, Brent crude oil prices increased by nearly 3%, WTI crude oil increased by more than 4%.

According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), US oil inventories fell by 3.4 million barrels, the fifth consecutive week of decline; gasoline inventories fell by 3.7 million barrels.

However, global supply appeared largely unaffected by fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East, and investors shifted their focus to demand concerns, which quickly cut into oil’s rally. Oil prices fell more than $1 on Wednesday.

Slowing U.S. job growth and rising unemployment have raised concerns about a possible recession in China. Declining manufacturing activity in China has raised concerns about growing demand. These are the main factors that pushed oil prices down nearly 4% to their lowest level since January in the final trading session of the week.

With 4 sessions of decline and 1 session of sharp increase, Brent oil price ended the week at 76.81 USD/barrel, down 4.32 USD for the week, while WTI oil price closed at 73.52 USD/barrel, down 3.64 USD for the week. With this decrease, oil price officially recorded the 4th consecutive week of decline.

Domestic retail prices of gasoline on August 4 are as follows:

The above domestic retail price of gasoline was adjusted by the Ministry of Finance - Industry and Trade at the price management session on the afternoon of August 1.

Diesel oil price decreased the most, 316 VND/liter. Mazut oil price decreased 292 VND/kg, E5 RON 92 gasoline decreased 284 VND/liter, RON 95-III gasoline decreased 281 VND/liter. Kerosene decreased the least, 231 VND/liter.

This is the fourth consecutive reduction in domestic gasoline prices.