Oil
prices continued to fall during Tuesday's trading, with US West Texas crude
falling nearly 20 percent after losing a quarter of its value yesterday amid
decline in storage spaces.
As
of 08:36 GMT, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures traded at $10.25 per
barrel, while the lowest level recorded during the session was at $10.09,
noting that during yesterday’s session WTI recorded the second lowest
settlement of this most active contract ever at $12.87.
Brent
crude extended its losses to trade lower at $22.16 a barrel, while the lowest
level recorded during the session was at $21.93.
The
strong and sustained losses in black gold prices come as concerns about the
rapidly full-time storage around the world are taking off.
This
was in the context of the accumulation of raw material and its non-consumption
as a result of the coronavirus repercussions, which affected demand, causing a
sharp oversupply.
Despite
a possible drop in oil production by the OPEC+, it is believed to be not fast
enough to counter the strong and unprecedented drop in demand.
Brent
and West Texas are heading for their fourth consecutive monthly decline in a
wave of losses that will be the first since 2017.
As
oil production cuts have been swayed, US crude exploration platforms have
fallen to their lowest level since July 2016, while the number of such
platforms in Canada has fallen to its lowest level since at least 2000,
according to Baker Hughes data.
The
outbreak of Coivd-19 has claimed more than 211,770 lives and infected more than
3,074,550 people worldwide, according to calculations by Johns Hopkins
University.
Meanwhile, the dollar
index, which measures the performance of six major currencies against the US
dollar, descended 0.21 percent at 99.88.