Brent Crude is Losing Levels of $ 80 a Barrel on Covid-19 Concerns

Oil prices fell below $79 a barrel on Friday, as a new increase in Covid-19 cases in Europe threatened to slow the pace of economic recovery, while investors weighed the possibility of a move by the world’s major economies to withdraw from their strategic stocks of crude to calm energy prices.

Brent crude futures fell $2.44, or 3 percent, to $78.80 a barrel by 1110 GMT, the lowest since early October, after rising earlier to $82.24, continuing to fluctuate on Thursday.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures for December delivery fell $2.30, or 2.9 percent, to $76.11 a barrel.

The two crudes are heading to a fourth week of decline.

Austria became the first country in Western Europe to completely re-impose a nationwide lockdown to combat the coronavirus this fall, with a new wave of infections across the region threatening to slow the economic recovery of recent months.

Brent crude has risen about 60 percent this year as economies recover from the pandemic and as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, known as OPEC+, have gradually increased production.

Governments of some of the world’s largest economies are considering withdrawing strategic oil reserves at the request of the United States, in a coordinated move to cool prices.