Home
/
News
Oil Prices Fall Beyond 6% as Brent Crude Settles at $
24.74 a Barrel
01 April 2020
Oil prices fell beyond 6% in Wednesday’s session pushing the
benchmark crude reaching $ 24.74 a barrel, following the increase in the
US inventories of crude oil by the largest quantities since 2016.
Moreover, demand on gasoline
witnessed the biggest weekly decline due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The US inventory of crude has increased by 13.8 million barrel last
week which is considered the highest increase since 2016 as stated by
the US Energy Information Administration ‘EIA’. Analysts forecast
similar data in the weeks to come as refineries continue to curtail
production and a continued low demand on gasoline.
US WT crude fell 17 cents to settle at $ 20.31 a barrel while the
benchmark crude slumped to $ 21.65 a barrel on Monday to its lowest
levels since 2002 when May futures were the nearest maturities.
The market fell in reaction to the sharp low demand caused by
coronavirus pandemic and the high production by Saudi and Russia
following the collapse of their supplies pact last month. Brent crude
fell by 66% since the beginning of 2020 sustaining the strongest
quarterly losses ever.