Oil prices fell on Thursday in a volatile week as recession fears dogged global financial markets, outweighing supply concerns and geopolitical tensions in Europe.
At 12:02 GMT, crude Brent fell 1.92 dollars, 1.8%, at $105.59 a barrel. The crude WTI fell 1.79 dollars, 1.7%at $103.92 a barrel.
Oil prices are under pressure this week, along with global financial markets, amid jitters over rising interest rates, the strongest dollar in two decades, concerns about inflation and a possible recession.
The prolonged Covid-19 lockdown in China, the world’s largest oil importer, has also weighed on the market.
“Recession concerns have risen and pushed oil lower this morning,” said Howie Lee, an economist at Singapore’s Oversea Chinese Banking Corp., pointing to strong US Consumer Price Index (CPI) data from Wednesday.
The US CPI for the 12 months through April rose 8.3%, fueling concerns about further interest rate hikes and their impact on economic growth.
“Rising pump prices and slowing economic growth are expected to significantly slow the recovery in demand for the rest of the year and into 2023,” the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its report on Thursday. monthly.
“Prolonged lockdowns across China … are fueling a significant slowdown in the world’s second largest oil consumer,” the agency added.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cut its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2022 for the second month in a row, citing the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, rising inflation and a resurgence of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in China.
A pending European Union ban on oil from Russia, one of the EU’s main suppliers of crude oil and fuels, could further restrict global supply.
In the United States, commercial crude inventories rose last week due to a record release of oil from US strategic reserves, but gasoline stocks dwindled ahead of peak summer driving demand, the Energy Information Administration (EIA).