Oil prices retreated Tuesday in front of investor concerns over the coronavirus crisis and the prospect of a return to the Libyan production market.
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A barrel of Brent North Sea crude for August delivery, which is the last trading day, was worth $ 41.10 in London, down 1.46% from Monday’s close.
In New York, the American barrel of WTI for the same month lost 1.54%, to 39.09 dollars.
The Covid-19 pandemic, which has just crossed two symbolic thresholds – more than half a million dead and ten million cases – “is far from over” and even “accelerating”, warned Monday l ‘World Health Organization, calling on the world to mobilize without waiting for a vaccine.
Libya, in chaos since the fall of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, saw its oil production drop at the beginning of the year because of the blockage of its most important oil fields and terminals by groups allied with Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
Libyan production had gone in a few weeks from more than a million barrels per day – average last year – to less than 100,000, according to data from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) of which Libya makes part.
If it returned to the market, such a quantity could upset the fragile balance between supply and demand that the cartel and its allies, including Russia, are trying to maintain with much reinforcement of cuts in their production, from which Libya is also exempt.
(With MAP)
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