Oil prices fell yesterday, as trading was characterized by growing uncertainty about the global recovery in demand for fuel, while the cases of "Covid-19" are rising in several countries, with large producers preparing to ease restrictions on production.
And Brent futures fell 11 cents, or 0.3% to $ 43.26 a barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate crude fell four cents, or 0.1%, to $ 40.71.
The United States recently announced at least 75,000 new cases of Covid-19, which is a daily record, and Spain and Australia announced the largest daily jump in cases they have in more than two months, and cases have continued to rise in India, Brazil has strengthened public isolation measures.
The rise in Corona virus infections slows the recovery of fuel consumption, after the easing of general isolation measures in the United States and other countries, which raises fears that recovery of consumption from the impact of the pandemic may take years.
The benchmarks fell 1% the day before yesterday, after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies agreed, in what is known as "OPEC Plus," to reduce supply cuts, amounting to 9.7 million barrels per day, which were applied earlier this year, by Two million barrels per day as of next August.
But commodity analyst at the Australian Commonwealth Bank, Vivek Dahar, said that “the actual increase in production will be around one million barrels per day, as countries like Iraq, whose production has increased compared to their pledges to cut supplies in May to July, have agreed to implement a greater cut in Next August and September.
"The market has received some support from agreeing to some degree of compensation for the previous non-compliance with the pledges while the uncertainty about the growth of demand is growing," Dahar added.
In addition, the National Energy Administration reported that China's consumption of refined oil products increased in the second quarter, as the demand of the industrial and transport sectors improved after exceeding the peak of the Corona virus pandemic, but the demand is still below the levels recorded a year ago.
The National Energy Administration said yesterday that after demand decreased by about 19% in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2019, in the second quarter, the contraction diminished by 6%.
The administration did not provide details of the consumption of refined oil products in a press briefing in the capital, in which it revealed the percentage change.