Oil Declining For The Sixth Consecutive Day Amid a Surge In Coronavirus Cases

Oil prices fell for the sixth consecutive day, declining by about 9% in the week, as a new bout of Covid-19 cases, especially in Europe, imposed new general restrictive measures and dampened hopes for an imminent oil’s demand recovery.

US West Texas Intermediate crude fell four cents, or 0.07 percent, to $ 59.96 a barrel in the Asian session. Brent crude fell 10 cents, or 0.16 percent, to $ 63.18 a barrel.

Jeffrey Haley, chief market analyst at Oanda, said in a note that oil rose in morning trade in Asia after dropping 7% on Thursday, as buyers took advantage of the opportunity to buy cheap crude.

But analysts say that the market is still worried about growing concerns about the prospects for fuel demand, in light of the surge in Covid-19 cases, new restrictions and slowdown in vaccine rollout in some countries.

Goldman Sachs said that adverse factors linked to EU demand and Iranian supplies would slow the oil market’s recovery by 0.75 million barrels per day in the second quarter, although it expects OPEC + to compensate for that.

Supplies are also abundant, as Saudi Arabia’s crude exports increased in January for the seventh month in a row, reaching their highest levels since April 2020, according to the Joint Data Initiative website on Thursday.

Shipments from the world’s largest exporter increased to 6.582 million barrels per day in January from 6.495 million the previous month.