The oil price fell sharply on Monday.

At times, the North Sea variety Brent only cost 67.93 dollars per barrel (159 liter barrel).

That was $ 2.77 less than Friday.

In July, oil had cost 77 dollars at times.

Christian Siedenbiedel

Editor in business.

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Since then, the price of oil has fallen by a good 9 dollars - although motorists at the petrol stations in Germany have not yet been able to benefit from it.

A spokesman for the ADAC car club said that the price for premium gasoline was at an average of 1.567 euros per liter, roughly at its annual high on August 1: "We clearly see potential for gasoline price reductions."

A cocktail of reasons

Currently it is mainly the stronger dollar and the new corona restrictions in China that are causing the oil price to fall, said Giovanni Staunovo, oil analyst at UBS bank.

The exchange rate of the dollar had risen after strong figures from the American labor market on Friday, which makes oil more expensive outside the dollar area and tends to depress demand.

Frank Schallenberger, oil specialist at Landesbankbank Baden-Württemberg, said that “a whole cocktail” of “bearish”, ie price-depressing news is responsible for the medium-term drop in oil prices compared to the beginning of July. On the one hand, the recent restrictions on mobility in China have fueled fears that the recovery in oil demand could be slowed down again by Corona. In addition, rather disappointing import-export figures from China were reported.

On the other hand, the soaring dollar has slowed the entire commodity sector, not just oil prices. In addition, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (Opec plus) want to increase the production of petroleum in the months of August to December by a further 2 million barrels per day. "A possible supply deficit on the oil market should therefore no longer play such a major role as a price driver for Brent and Co. in the second half of this year," said Schallenberger.

And finally, it is to be expected that American oil production will pick up again in the further course of the year: "After all, the number of active wells in the United States has already increased by 46 percent this year." Opec and Corona are the ones who are the first Cyrus de la Rubia, oil specialist at Hamburg Commercial Bank, said that the global oil price rally had ended. He speaks of a certain "fragility" of the oil cartel.

The price of heating oil, unlike that of fuel, has also recently fallen somewhat. According to the Internet portal Heizoel24, to which 500 dealers report their prices, 100 liters cost an average of 67.37 euros when purchasing 3,000 liters. In July it was at times more than 70 euros. From the autumn of last year to July of this year, however, heating oil had risen sharply along with crude oil.