Oil
fell during Monday's trading to deepen its losses, reaching its lowest level in
21 years, with concern about oversupply and the weak global demand amidst the
undergoing coronavirus crisis.
As
of 08:04 GMT, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures traded at $23.59 per barrel, while the lowest level recorded during
the session was at $22.73.
WTI
crude for May delivery fell more than 17.9 percent to $14.99 a barrel, down
$14.47 in earlier trading, the lowest level since March 1999, while it also
fell nearly 20 percent last week.
Brent
crude dipped to $27.06 a barrel, while the lowest level recorded during the
session was at $26.91.
Investors
remain concerned about the continued decline in oil storage capacity, which is
experiencing a sharp decline in supplies as a result of a sharp decline in
crude demand due to the outbreak of the Covid-19.
Measures
to contain the virus have disrupted travel activity and imposed tightening of
citizens' movements around the world, amid an urgent contraction of economic
activity and, consequently, global oil demand.
The
OPEC+ production cut agreement and other oil producers failed to allay investor
concerns, amid expectations that demand fell to exceed the expected drop in
supply and continued supply glut.
At
the end of last week, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
and non-OPEC crude producers reached a preliminary agreement on reducing crude
supplies over the next two years after Us President Donald Trump brokered an
effort to stop the price war.
Over
the weekend, OPEC+ tried to renegotiate the outcome of a historic agreement
that includes a reduction of 9.7 million barrels per day within the next two
months.
So
far, the outbreak of Coivd-19 has claimed more than 1656,170 lives and infected
more than 2.4 million 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, advanced 0.12 percent at 99.95.