Oil prices down with rising COVID-19 cases

IZMIR, Turkey

Crude oil prices fell from the upward trajectory on Friday with further rises in COVID-19 cases, which fuelled demand fears, but positive vaccine developments maintained weekly gains.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $43.05 per barrel at 0633 GMT on Friday with a 1.1% decrease after closing Wednesday at $43.53 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $40.51 per barrel at the same time for a 1.5% decrease after ending the previous session at $41.12 a barrel.

The upward momentum in oil prices fuelled by positive vaccine news was threatened on Friday over a spike in COVID-19 cases worldwide. Rising cases, in turn, fed fears over a slow recovery in the global economy and lower oil demand.

On Thursday, US-based Johns Hopkins University reported nearly 12.5 million cases across Europe, out of which more than 300,000 people died.

While the UK alone reported more than 30,000 new cases in the past 24 hours in a record single-day rise since the start of the pandemic months ago, California has become the second US state after Texas to surpass 1 million coronavirus cases.

Crude oil supply data released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday also added pressure to prices. Inventories rose by 4.3 million barrels to 488.7 million barrels against the market expectation of a 913,000-barrel reduction for the week ending Nov. 6.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) data on Tuesday showed a draw of 5.147 million barrels for the week ending Nov. 6.