Oil prices hit their lowest level since January 2019, as investors worried about the impact of the Corona Virus on oil demand in China.
Brent crude fell to $ 53.3 a barrel, and US crude fell below $ 50 a barrel.
Oil prices fell more than 20% compared to the highest level recorded last month.
Investors are awaiting the upcoming OPEC Plus alliance meeting and the possibility of implementing them to further reduce production.
International institutions expect that the Corona virus will reduce demand by 260 thousand barrels per day inside China, and fears of deepening weak demand, with the absence of access to a vaccine that addresses the disease.
China is the largest importer of crude oil in the world with a daily average of 10 million barrels, and it is the second largest consumer with a daily average of 13.2 million barrels.
In China, PetroChina, the country's largest oil refiner, said it plans to cut production by more than 300,000 bpd this month.
The reduction corresponds to 10% of the company's average production of 3.32 million barrels per day, bringing the total reduction in state-owned refineries production this month to about one million barrels per day.
Sinopec - the largest oil refining company in Asia - decided last week to cut production by 600,000 barrels per day, and a company official said it was in talks with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait to postpone or reduce oil shipments.
The National Health Commission of China announced - Monday - that the number of deaths due to infection with the new Corona virus reached 909 people, and those infected to 40 thousand and 171 people, while the highest rate of deaths from the virus was recorded in one day.