A maze of crude oil pipes and valves are pictured during a Department of Energy visit to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport, Texas, U.S. June 9, 2016. REUTERS/Richard Carson

NEW YORK, May 24 (Reuters) – Oil prices were little changed on Tuesday in choppy trade after the U.S. Energy Secretary said Washington was not ruling out export restrictions to lower oil prices. fuel.

Concerns about a possible recession and China’s COVID-19 restrictions also weighed on the market.

Brent crude rose 9 cents to $113.51 a barrel as of 1:36 p.m. EDT (1736 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 63 cents to $109.66 a barrel.

Oil has surged this year, with Brent hitting $139 in March, its highest level since 2008 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine exacerbated supply problems.

Asked on Tuesday whether the United States was considering restricting oil exports to drive down fuel prices, US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said: “I can confirm that the President is not taking any tools off the table. “.

“At the outset, the assumption is that this will reduce commodity prices in the United States,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group.

Prices rose earlier in the session as the European Union moved closer to an agreement on a ban on Russian oil imports. Such an embargo should be accepted “within a few days”, the German economy minister said on Monday. Read more

Another source of support is gasoline demand in the United States. Memorial Day weekend trips this weekend are expected to be the busiest in two years as more drivers hit the road and shrug off coronavirus lockdowns despite high prices at the pump. Read more

Even so, concerns about threats to the global economy – a main theme of the Davos meeting this week – were behind the price drop earlier on Tuesday. Read more

Beijing is stepping up quarantine efforts to end its outbreak while Shanghai’s lockdown is expected to be lifted in just over a week. Read more

The American Petroleum Institute’s weekly inventory report will be released at 8:30 p.m. GMT for on-demand reading. Analysts expect lower gasoline and crude inventories.

Reporting by Stephanie Kelly; Additional reporting by Alex Lawler, Yuka Obayashi and Isabel Kua; Editing by David Goodman, Marguerita Choy and Mark Porter

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