Oil prices fell on Tuesday to their lowest level since August amid a number of factors that influenced their change, Markets Insider reported.

West Texas Intermediate was down 2.2 percent at $79.08 a barrel, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, was down 2.1 percent at $83.39 a barrel. For comparison, in September the price of Brent approached the threshold of 100 dollars per barrel.

All the increase in oil prices since the beginning of the war between Hamas and Israel on October 7 has practically disappeared.

In other words, traders appear to have moved away from fears that the war could escalate into a regional conflict that would involve Israel’s neighbors or require US intervention in the event of a move by Iran.

“Traders still don’t see the ongoing military action in the Middle East spilling over and affecting supply. Instead, the focus is on the demand side as concerns about economic weakness in China and elsewhere are driving prices lower,” said David Morrison, senior market analyst at international brokerage Trade Nation.

Reuters notes that while China’s crude oil imports showed a strong increase compared to last year, Beijing’s overall exports fell faster than expected.

On the supply side, markets are waiting to see if Saudi Arabia and Russia are willing to voluntarily cut output more than the level agreed by the OPEC+ group of producers.

“Looking ahead to 2024, it will likely be difficult for Saudi Arabia to reverse production cuts later this year. In fact, the expansion of oil production in Saudi Arabia risks creating an oversupply in the first half of next year,” Commerzbank notes in its own analysis.