WTI lost 1.16% from Tuesday’s close. A barrel of Brent was worth 54.19 dollars in London, down 1.40%.
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Oil continued to fall on Wednesday morning, with WTI dropping to a level seen more since January 2019, in a market that continues to worry about the spread of the new coronavirus.
Around 09:50 GMT, the barrel of WTI for delivery in April lost 1.16% compared to the close of Tuesday, at 49.32 dollars, forty minutes after falling to 48.99 dollars, a lowest in almost fourteen months.
A barrel of Brent North Sea crude for the same maturity was worth $ 54.19 in London, down 1.40%.
“Fears of a global Covid-19 pandemic are increasing following the latest information from Europe and the United States, and are also affecting the financial markets: investor confidence is greatly affected,” said Eugen Weinberg, analyst for Commerzbank.
Oil was not the only one hit on Wednesday, with the Paris, London and Frankfurt stock markets moving in steep declines after already two dark days.
The epidemic that broke out in central China in December has already peaked in that country, where it has infected some 78,000 people, more than 2,700 of whom have died, Chinese officials said on Wednesday.
It affects more and more countries, including Europe: the Covid-19 disease now affects, apart from China, more than thirty states where it has made more than 40 dead and 2,500 contaminations.
And “the outlook for demand (for oil) which, according to the director of the International Energy Agency, will be the weakest in a decade this year no matter what, could deteriorate even more judging by the remarks he made yesterday in London, ”said Weinberg.
“If OPEC + takes too long to come out of measures to counter the impact on demand, prices could fall quite quickly, with a barrel of Brent not so far from $ 50,” added Oanda analyst Craig Erlam.
Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, including Russia, are meeting next week in Vienna, Austria, to agree on their strategy to support prices.
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