BERNAMA – Oil prices partially recovered yesterday after plummeting around three per cent, falling below USD70 per barrel for the first time since December 2021 with data indicating a slowdown in economic activity in the United States (US) and China, the world’s top oil-consuming countries.
International benchmark Brent crude increased by 0.4 per cent to USD69.81 per barrel at 09.15am, up from the previous session’s close of USD69.52, reported Anadolu.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 0.04 per cent to USD65.82 per barrel after closing at USD65.79 in the prior session. Downward price movements were influenced by OPEC’s revision to its global oil demand growth forecast for this year and 2025. The group lowered its forecast by 80,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) for this year from the previous month’s assessment.
The group lowered its demand forecast by 40,000bpd for 2025.
However, prices started to compensate for the loss in the previous session in early trading yesterday.
The concern that oil production would be interrupted due to severe weather in the US supports the partial rise in prices. The storm, which started in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, turned into a “Category 1 hurricane” last night and might impact some states in the US, the US National Hurricane Centre said.
Meanwhile, concerns that there might be interruptions in oil and natural gas production also support upward price movements.
The US Bureau of Security and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said on Tuesday that about 24 per cent of crude oil production and 26 per cent of natural gas production in the US Gulf of Mexico were offline due to the storm.
