SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices fell for a second day on Thursday as coronavirus cases soared across the globe raising concerns about demand, despite a decline in U.S. crude stocks for the fifth straight week. call call.
Brent crude oil futures fell 5 cents, or 0.1%, to $ 56.01 a barrel by 0124 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell 1 percent to $ 52.90 a barrel.
“A sizzling rally may have brought the hiatus oil market as the dollar stronger and the omnipresent gasoline supply going against U.S. crude investments,” said Stephen Innes, Axi’s chief global market strategist.
U.S. crude oil stocks fell last week more than expected, while gasoline and distillate deposits rose as refineries raised output to an all-time high since August, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday.
China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer, reported the biggest daily jump in new COVID-19 cases in more than 10 months when infections in the northeastern Heilongjiang region nearly three so much, underscoring the growing risk ahead of a major national holiday.
Governments across Europe announced tighter and longer-term coronavirus seizures on Wednesday because of a rapidly spreading COVID outbreak that was first detected in Britain and because vaccines are not expected to occur. help a lot for another two or three months.
Oil producers face an unprecedented challenge to balance supply and demand as factors including speed and response to COVID-19 vaccines cloud the scene, an official with the International Energy Agency said. national (IEA).
Still, a hefty COVID-19 relief package, which U.S. President Joe Biden is set to unveil Thursday, kept track of losses.
Saudi Arabia’s major oil export has cut its supply of crude February for some Asian buyers by up to a quarter, sources told Reuters, which backed prices.
Reporting by Jessica Jaganathan; edited by Richard Pullin