Oil prices began to fall on Thursday afternoon and fell by about 9%.
WTI slipped 8.68% to $ 58.99 a barrel at 16:04 ET, while Brent had fallen 8.01% to $ 62.55 a barrel. It is the biggest drop in absolute terms since April 2020, when oil fell into negative territory.
Analysts have followed predictions during the recent price rise, as bulls have indicated there is more room to run, proclaiming a near supercycle. Others, more cautious in their outlook, have warned for a couple of weeks that the optimism present in the oil markets was unwarranted.
Recent support was largely based on OPEC + production cuts, or rather, on the fact that they agreed to keep production stable in April, rather than increase production as planned. the market. The step of the 3rd the stimulus round in the United States had also bolstered oil market sentiment.
But the rising dollar, rising crude inventories in the US, growing fears of a resurgence of coronavirus cases and vaccine safety issues in Europe have proven to be worthy opponents.
These concerns are directly related to the resurgence of oil demand. And markets today see this less favorable demand outlook, as evidenced by gross futures showing that the market downturn is slowing.
The initial WTI contract is quoted again with a discount for the following month.
The April WTI crude oil contract is now trading at $ 59.46 per barrel, while the May contract is trading at $ 59.57. WTI’s April contract now drops $ 5.14 a day.
This is the fifth consecutive day of falling oil prices and the biggest drop in absolute terms since April 2020
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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