Oil prices were lower today on continued nagging worries about Chinese demand. “Saudi and Russian output cuts have been largely negated by weakening crude demand from China that appeared to develop last month and is apt to continue through the rest of the summer,” said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates LLC in Galena, Illinois. Amplifying demand concerns, U.S. central bank officials have not ruled out further interest rate hikes to contain inflation. The Iraqi and Turkish oil ministers have discussed the importance of resuming oil flows after finalizing pipeline maintenance. Turkey had halted Iraq’s 450K/bpd of exports which is roughly 0.5% of global supply. WTI traded down $0.48 to close at $79.64. Brent traded down $0.43 or -0.5% to close at $84.03.