Search

Oil plunges as coronavirus outbreak threatens demand - Fox Business

Oil prices slid Friday morning as the widening Wuhan coronavirus outbreak threatened to curb global demand.

Continue Reading Below

Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, fell 1.8 percent to $60.90 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the U.S. benchmark, dipped 2 percent to $54.47. They have fallen by 5.9 percent and 6.9 percent this week, respectively.

“Oil prices are at ground zero for the market-related fallout from the SARS-like coronavirus,” Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at the Price Futures Group, said in a note sent to clients on Friday.

DEADLY CORONAVIRUS: WHAT TO KNOW

The outbreak has already caused “significant oil demand destruction,” according to Flynn, as more than 40 million people have been quarantined ahead of the Lunar New Year, a time when many Chinese would otherwise be traveling.

The cancellation of many Lunar New Year festivities will “eventually add up to hundreds of thousands of unused barrels of jet fuel, diesel and gasoline,” Flynn said.

The outbreak, which originated in Wuhan, China, has sickened 830 people and killed 26 in the country, China’s National Health Commission said Friday. Cases of the virus have also been discovered in the U.S., Japan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Nepal.

On Thursday, the World Health Organization said that it's still “a bit too early to consider that this is a public health emergency of international crisis.”

Even before the coronavirus outbreak, oil prices were under pressure due to a supply glut, which isn’t expected to end anytime soon despite OPEC cutting production at its December meeting.

“We expect, even with the cuts coming from OPEC+, we think at least the first half of this year, we will see a surplus of 1 million barrels per day,” International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol told Reuters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS

Brent crude oil has fallen 7.5 percent this year while West Texas Intermediate crude oil has tumbled 10.7 percent.

Let's block ads! (Why?)



Business - Latest - Google News
January 24, 2020 at 09:56PM
https://ift.tt/2RK12Bf

Oil plunges as coronavirus outbreak threatens demand - Fox Business
Business - Latest - Google News
https://ift.tt/2Rx7A4Y

Bagikan Berita Ini

0 Response to "Oil plunges as coronavirus outbreak threatens demand - Fox Business"

Post a Comment

Powered by Blogger.