Oil Prices Stable But Concerns About Corona Cases And Supplies Persist

There was little change in oil prices on Tuesday, to stabilize after suffering losses over three days due to fears that the increase in cases of Coronavirus globally would impede the recovery of demand for fuel while the increase in Libyan production leads to an abundance of supplies.

Brent crude fell in futures trading by four cents, or the equivalent of 0.1%, to $ 42.58 a barrel by 0635 GMT, recovering from the level of $ 42.19, which it fell to earlier in the session.

US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose one cent to $ 40.84 a barrel, after earlier dropping to $ 40.48.

COVID-19 cases exceeded forty million on Monday, according to a Reuters count, as the second wave of the disease escalated in Europe and North America, leading to new isolation measures.

At a meeting on Monday of a ministerial committee that includes OPEC and allied producers in what is known as OPEC +, the group pledged to support the oil market as fears of an increase in COVID-19 infections increased.

Libya is raising production quickly after an armed conflict halted most of the country’s production in January. Two sources in the sector told Reuters that the production of the Sharara field, the largest field in the country and which reopened on October 11, is currently 150 thousand barrels per day, or about half of its production capacity.