08:58 AM EDT, 08/06/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Oil traded lower for a fourth-straight session early on Tuesday, falling to a six-month low on demand worries amid recession fears that are roiling stock and commodity markets.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil for September delivery was last seen down US$0.51 to US$$72.43 per barrel, the lowest since Feb.2. October Brent crude, the global benchmark, was last seen down US$0.54 to US$75.76.

Oil has dropped 6.4% since Friday's weak U.S. jobs report raised worries the Federal Reserve erred in delaying interest-rate cuts, slowing the economy amid already weak demand from China, the No.1 importer. Stock and commodity markets dropped sharply following the report.

"Oil prices yesterday had little choice other than to march to the tune of the wider suite. Not that encouragement lower was hard to find anyway. The spate of global economic warnings and problems in demand so very much highlighted by the ails of China offered a market that was in boxing parlance 'leading with its chin'," PVM Oil Associates noted.

The shutdown of Libya's 270,000 barrel per day Sharara oil field is offering some support for prices. Employees at the field were order to shut down production on Saturday by one of the country's two competing governments, according to a Bloomberg report.