An employee checks crude oil processing equipment at the Shengli Oil Field in Dongying, Shandong province. (Photo by Hu Qingming for China Daily)

SHANGHAI - Crude oil futures closed lower Tuesday in daytime trading on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange.

The most active crude oil contract for August 2020 delivery was down 0.9 yuan (13 US cents) to close at 295.9 yuan a barrel.

The total trading volume for 17 listed crude oil futures contracts on the exchange was 139,390 lots, with a turnover of about 42.4 billion yuan.

China launched the crude oil futures trading, which is open to overseas investment, in March 2018.