New York (Platts)--19 Oct 2015 556 pm EDT/2156 GMT

November NYMEX crude settled $1.37/b lower at $45.89/b Monday as a result of number of factors highlighting the weak fundamentals of the oil market.

December ICE Brent, which is now the prompt contract, settled $1.85/b lower at $48.61/b.

Refined products were also under pressure, with NYMEX November RBOB falling 7.66 cents to settle at $1.2514/gal.

NYMEX November ULSD also settled lower, sliding 4.75 cents day on day to close at $1.4491/gal.

China released quarterly economic data reporting that growth had fallen to 6.9% in the third quarter, the lowest since first quarter of 2009 when markets were still deeply embroiled in the global financial crisis.

"Along with a range of other markets, global petroleum prices are trading lower after China reported 6.9% GDP growth for Q3." Citi Futures analyst Tim Evans said in a morning note.

"Although a tick more than the consensus expectation for a 6.8% scorecard, it still marked the slowest quarterly performance since Q1 2009 and was a disappointment given the government stimulus efforts so far this year," Evans added.

While the oil complex seemed to respond to the news, some market observers were less pessimistic about China's "subdued but stable" growth.

"We shall suggest to everyone who has been decrying the effect of supposedly slower economic growth in China as being manifestly deleterious to the global economy to remember that 7% GDP growth in the Chinese economy of today is of greater global effect than would have been 15% growth 10 years ago, for the economy there has grown that much in the interim," Dennis Gartman, the author of The Gartman Letter, said in his daily note.

However, the data also show Chinese industrial production growth fell to 5.7% year on year in September, down from 6.1% the month prior, which stoked fears about a slowing global economy.
"Although we did see GDP growth in China, it was on the services side rather than manufacturing, so there is a loss of demand," Mizuho Securities director of futures Bob Yawger said. "A stronger dollar has also added to the negative pressure on crude."

The Dollar Index was up 39 points on the day.

Compounding the bearish sentiment, Saudi Arabia released data over the weekend that showed that crude stocks in the country reached an all-time high of 326.6 million barrels in August.

"There was disappointing economic news out of China to open the week. Tradition Energy senior analyst Gene McGillian said. "Additionally, we found out that Saudi stockpiles are at their all-time high. Both of those factors reawakened some of the fears related to the weak fundamentals of the oil market."

He added that statements from Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh regarding increased exports upon the conclusion of the G5+1 nuclear agreement added to the bearish mood.

"Iran will increase its exports right on the implementation day of the nuclear deal at least by 500,000 b/d and in a maximum period of six months by 1 million b/d," Zanganeh told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Tehran.

The 5.77% fall in NYMEX RBOB outpaced the 2.90% drop in crude, meaning that the RBOB crack fell 21.7% from $8.52/b to $6.67/b.

"The fall in the gasoline crack means that refiners will be in no rush to bring their refineries back on stream from maintenance or run them at elevated levels," Yawger said. "Ultimately, that is a negative factor for crude oil because it equates to less demand."

Yawger said that a meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC countries scheduled for Wednesday could reduce some of the selling pressure in the market, in addition to declining production in the United States.

"I think that there is very little chance that production cuts are agreed upon at the meeting, but traders will probably reduce their selling going into it," he said.

--Jack Laursen, jack.laursen@platts.com
--Edited by Keiron Greenhalgh, keiron.greenhalgh@platts.com

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