Crude oil prices hovered in the range between $42 and $43 per barrel during the week ending Oct. 23 with daily slumps due to oversupply concerns and lackluster demand recovery amid increasing coronavirus cases, especially in the US and Europe.
International benchmark Brent crude traded at $42.63 at 1210 GMT on Friday, posting a 0.26% decrease from Monday when traded at 0623 GMT registered at $42.74 per barrel.
American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at $40.77 at the same time on Friday relative to $40.95 a barrel on Monday.
After ending the previous week with price slides over negative market and global economic forecasts, oil prices stayed in the range between $42 and $43 per barrel during the week ending Oct. 23 with limited daily drops.
Investor concerns over a sustained supply glut amid demand uncertainties, especially in the aviation sector, drove prices down.
The worst-than-expected economic growth rates in China showed that the world’s second-largest economy has not yet recovered from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to contribute to the overall negative recovery outlook in the short-term.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC oil-producing nations held the 23rd meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) on Monday. Although OPEC reiterated its full commitment to the two-year road map of its Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) to restore market balance for an extended period through December, no implications for a further extension of the deal in 2021 were made.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the OPEC+ output cut deal could be extended in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak.
- Oversupply concerns vs. demand fall
To exacerbate oversupply concerns, the number of US oil rigs recorded the highest level since January with a weekly rise of 12 to 205 last week.
The ongoing conflict in Nagorno Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the surge of oil output in Libya, which is currently pumping around 500,000 barrels per day, were among the other factors impacting oil price fluctuations during the week.
The second wave of the outbreak started to hit Europe and North America, forcing many European countries to tighten lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus, which has now reached almost 41.8 million, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.
Despite a fall in US crude oil inventories of 1 million barrels, or 0.2%, to 488.1 million barrels in line with market expectations, prices failed to rally from weak global oil demand concerns.
By Sibel Morrow
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr