Fear of slipping fuel demand pushes oil prices down

Tokyo/London — Oil prices fell for a second day on Wednesday as rising coronavirus cases prompted concerns about further restrictions on global economic activity that could curb fuel demand.

Brent crude for November delivery dropped 63 US cents, or 1.56%, to $40.40 per barrel by 10.05am GMT. West Texas Intermediate fell 50c, or 1.3%, to $38.79.

The November Brent contract expires today, to be replaced by the December contract, which was down about 1.4% at $41.00.

The benchmarks fell more than 3% on Tuesday as global Covid-19 cases passed one-million, having doubled in three months.

“The increasing number of Covid-19 cases continues to raise alarm bells on energy demand,” said Avtar Sandu, senior commodities manager at Phillip Futures.

“Concerns about stagnating demand and the return of Libyan exports continue to put pressure on oil prices,” said Norbert Rucker from Julius Baer.

ING Economics also pointed out in a note: “While demand is an issue for the market, the supply side of the equation is not helping either.”

Libya’s Sarir oilfield, which was producing more than 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2019, restarted output after an eight-month blockade.

CEOs of the world’s biggest trading companies are forecasting a weak recovery for oil demand and little movement in prices in the coming months and potentially years.

Marathon Petroleum Corp, the largest oil refiner in the US, started imposing job cuts on Tuesday, according to people familiar with the matter.

Royal Dutch/Shell also said it would cut up to 9,000 jobs.

To counter the fall in demand, Opec is unlikely to increase oil production as planned from January, top oil traders said on Tuesday.

The market looked past data from the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday showing US crude oil stocks fell against expectations, focusing instead on the rise in petrol inventories.

Reuters