Oil Set for Weekly Fall

Oil prices are on track to end the week lower on lingering doubts over the extent of OPEC cuts, with sentiment worsened by concerns over the health of the Chinese economy after it reported the steepest falls in exports since 2009. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were trading 20 cents down at $55.81 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell by 23 cents to $52.78, Reuters reported. Record Chinese crude imports of 8.56 million barrels per day in December helped to buoy prices somewhat, traders said, but they could not hide underlying fears over the overall health of the world's second-biggest economy. On the supply side, there was some market support from top crude exporter Saudi Arabia, which said that its output had fallen below 10 million bpd to levels last seen in February 2015 and that it expects to make even deeper cuts next month.