Oil prices were lower today after some profit taking. Both benchmarks have been on a sustained rally since July. Oil prices have been boosted in recent days by extensions to output cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia, alongside supply fears driven by the potential for conflict between Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea region to threaten Russian oil shipments. But recent data showed the consumer sector in China fell into deflation and factory gate prices extended declines in July, raising concerns about fuel demand in the world’s second-largest economy. “China’s data just gets worse and worse, and this is only going to make it more difficult for China to ramp up its economy,” said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York. The U.S. is also prohibiting some investment in China in sensitive technologies like computer chips and requires government notification in other tech sectors. WTI traded down $1.58 or -1.9% to close at $82.82. Brent traded down $1.15 or -1.3% to close at $86.40.