Oil prices fell this evening, heading for their biggest weekly decline in two months, after China increased bank reserve requirements a second time in two weeks. China is one of the world's leading oil consumers.
The People's Bank of China said that it would increase banks' required reserves by 0.5 percentage points in an effort to curb inflation.
US crude fell 75 cents to $81.10 a barrel, while Brent crude fell $1.15 to $83.90. The premium of Brent to US crude rose to a two-month high this week as inventories swelled at the Cushing, Oklahoma, NYMEX delivery point and production in the North Sea dropped.
