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 to be largely unaffected by fears of 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 and oil 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.