In a fresh prolongation of the price drop brought on by great supplies, demand concerns, and higher speculative selling, oil prices dropped on Tuesday night to below $70 per barrel for the first time since December 2021.
While West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 4.2% thus reaching its lowest intraday price since December 2021, the global benchmark Brent futures contract dropped 3.8%.
Downbeat economic news from China and the United States has sparked questions regarding oil demand among the world’s largest crude users, hence fueling worries of a surplus next year. Rising output of non-OPEC producers has aggravated this situation.
The drop comes despite the OPEC+ partnership postponing its original intention to add 180,000 barrels daily as it progressively resumes output stopped since 2022 in an effort to help prices.
OPEC maintained its demand prediction unaltered in its monthly report this week even after changing its production strategy. Previously projecting a surplus next year, the International Energy Agency is set to present its own monthly report this week.
