The fear of economic recession is intensifying worldwide. Along with this, the demand for fuel has also decreased. As a result of this, after three days yesterday, the price of crude oil fell slightly in the world market. Oil prices were largely stable on Monday, Reuters reported. Because oil prices competed with a relatively tight global supply slump and a rising dollar.
At 6:54 am yesterday, the price of Brent crude fell by 1.17 percent to 95.55 dollars per barrel.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices fell 1.12 or 1.2 percent. Oil is now selling at $89.65 per barrel. Oil prices fell to $89.29 last October. Then 1.15 or 1.3 percent price decrease.
Both Brent and WTI hit their third consecutive day highs on Friday. But it fell 1.5 percent for the week on a strong dollar and demand fears. Hiroyuki Kikukawa, general manager of research at Nissan Securities, said: ‘Investors were worried that the economy would slow down and fuel demand would slow.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil for September delivery was down 0.42 cents, or 0.4 percent, at $90.35 by the end of Monday’s settlement. The stronger October contract was down 0.27 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $90.17.
Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, said demand for oil was boosted by higher natural gas prices due to dwindling supplies from Russia.
In early March, the price of Brent crude reached about $140 per barrel. But prices have continued to fall since inflation hit record highs.
‘While funds continued to sell crude oil in anticipation of an economic downturn, the refined products market was once again sending another signal with rising refinery margins that made refined alternatives like diesel look cheaper, partly due to rising gas prices,’ said Hansen.
Global supply remains relatively tight. One operator, which supplies 1 percent of the world’s oil via pipeline from Russia, said it would cut production again due to damage to its pipeline equipment.
Meanwhile, the dollar index rose to a five-week high on Monday. A strong US currency is generally bad for markets, as most of the world’s oil trade is conducted in dollars.
Meanwhile, leaders of the US, Britain, France and Germany discussed efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. The talks could allow Iran’s embargoed oil to return to global markets, the White House said on Sunday.
(22 Aug)