World oil prices fell on Tuesday (Wednesday morning GMT ) , as traders forecast a rise in U.S. commercial crude oil inventories and worries about the health of the Chinese economy .
The main contract , light sweet crude or West Texas Intermediate for April delivery , fell 99 cents to close at 101.83 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange , AFP reported .
In London trade , Brent North Sea crude for April delivery slipped 1.13 dollars to settle at 109.51 dollars a barrel , from Monday's close .
The market appeared to be under pressure from profit-taking ahead of the weekly U.S. oil inventory data on Wednesday , said Tim Evans of Citi Futures .
Report of U.S. Department of Energy ( DoE ) " is expected to show a small accumulation of the total crude oil stocks and a moderate decline in distillate and gasoline inventories , " he said .
Dealers expected increase of one million barrels , " a situation in which the storage of crude oil will rise for the sixth week in a row , " said Bob Yawger of Mizuho Securities USA . " That tends to put pressure on the market . "
There are concerns about China's new restrictions on lending in the property market the world's biggest energy consumer , said Addison Armstrong of Tradition Energy .
" Industrial Bank of China has announced restrictions on property loan until the end of March , sparking fears that the slowdown in property development will curb demand for commodities , " said Armstrong .
Phil Flynn of Price Futures Group pointed to China's yuan hit a six-month low . The decline in the currency " has made traders to wonder if this is a bad sign of the coming Chinese economy . "
" It also makes traders to wonder about the consequences for markets other developing countries have difficulty in trimming the new era of U.S. stimulus . "
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