Oil prices extend losses due to fears of recession; Brent drops 2 dollars

Los oil prices They fell by around $2 a barrel on Thursday to their lowest level since late March, dragged down by fears that a possible recession could hit fuel demand and after a rise in US gasoline inventories.

crude oil futures Brent they lost $2.02, or 2.43%, to $81.10 a barrel. crude oil futures West Texas Intermediate (WTI) were down $1.87, or 2.36%, at $77.29 a barrel.

After suffering a 2% collapse the day before, both benchmarks are at their lowest level since the end of March, just before the unexpected announcement of production cuts from the OPEC+.

“At the end of the day, one of the main reasons we’re falling is fear of recession,” said Bob Yawger, chief executive of energy futures at Mizuho.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased moderately last week, indicating that the job market was slowing after a year of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve (Fed) and stoking concerns about a slowdown in fuel demand.

Los gasoline inventories unexpectedly rose last week by 1.3 million barrels to 223.5 million barrels, the US Energy Information Administration said in its report on Wednesday.

The implicit demand for Gasoline it fell 3.9% from year-ago levels to 8.5 million barrels per day. Meanwhile, the crude oil reserves they were down 4.6 million barrels, but analysts said the decline could be short-lived.

On the supply side, it is likely that the oil cargo from the western ports of Russia in April to rise to its highest level since 2019, trade and shipping sources said.

Pakistan placed its first order for discounted Russian crude under a new deal that could cover 100,000 barrels a day, the country’s oil minister said.

Also weighing on crude oil prices, equity markets, which often move along with oil values, fell after disappointing results from Tesla and other companies.

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