Wednesday’s opening session left oil prices marooned near their lowest levels since 2002 amid the global coronavirus crisis. It has brought a worldwide economic slowdown and slashed oil demand. Furthermore, crude futures ended the quarter down nearly 70 percent after record losses in March.
Crude oil benchmarks opened the month mixed on Wednesday. It was following due to their biggest-ever quarterly and monthly losses. Then, it was overshadowed by fears of global oversupply as data showed a bigger-than-expected rise in inventories in the United States.
Brent crude was down by 2.1 percent at $25.81 a barrel by 03:31 GMT. Meanwhile, US West Texas Intermediate crude was up by 0.1 percent at $20.50 a barrel. It erased most of a 1.3 percent gain.
The Agreement is Still Being Discussed
A rift within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) did not improve the bearish mood in the market. Saudi Arabia and other members of OPEC were unable to come to an agreement on Tuesday to meet in April to discuss sliding prices.
BNP Paribas analyst, Harry Tchilinguirian said in a report issued on Tuesday. He said, “It is very unlikely that OPEC, with or without Russia or the United States, will agree a sufficient volumetric solution to offset oil demand losses.”
According the Reuters, a Reuters news agency survey of 40 analysts forecast Brent would average $38.76 a barrel in 2020, 36 percent lower than the $60.63 forecast in a February survey.
Oil drew some early buying on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed to talks on stabilising energy markets.
As a result, Trump said he would join Saudi Arabia and Russia, if need be. He will discuss the sharp fall in oil prices resulting from a price war between the two countries.
Markets have been in turmoil for more than three weeks. Early in March, prices fell sharply after Saudi Arabia and Russia were unable to come to an agreement to curb supply. Therefore, two cases of oil prices fell and coronavirus pandemic had affected the world balancing.