Oil prices started to fall on Thursday afternoon, falling almost 9%.
WTI fell 8.68% to $ 58.99 per barrel at 16h04 ET, while Brent fell 8.01% to $ 62.55 per barrel. It is the biggest drop in absolute terms since April 2020, when oil fell into negative territory.
Analysts have been making forecasts during the recent price hike, with bulls signaling that there is more space to run, announcing an approaching super cycle. Others, more cautious in their outlook, warned for a few weeks that the optimism present in the oil markets was unjustified.
The recent recovery was largely due to OPEC + production cuts – or rather, the fact that they agreed to keep production stable in April, instead of increasing production as the market had predicted. The passage of 3rd The stimulus round in the United States also reinforced the sentiment of the oil market.
But the rise in the dollar, the increase in crude oil stocks in the United States, the growing fear of a resurgence of coronavirus cases and concerns about vaccine safety in Europe have proved to be worthy foes.
These concerns are directly related to the resurgence in demand for oil. And markets are seeing this picture of demand as less favorable today, as shown by oil futures, which show that the market’s setback is slowing.
The contract for the first month of WTI is being negotiated again at a discount for the following month.
April’s WTI crude oil contract is now trading at $ 59.46 a barrel, while the May contract is trading at $ 59.57. The April contract for WTI is now down $ 5.14 on the day.
This is the fifth consecutive day of declines in oil prices and the biggest drop in absolute terms since April 2020
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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