Crude oil prices fell today, Thursday, after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said that it expects demand for its oil to decline more than expected, although US government data showed a decline in stocks, indicating that demand is returning despite the Corona virus pandemic.
Brent crude fell eight cents to $ 45.35 a barrel by 07:26 GMT, after winning about 2% in the previous session, and US West Texas Intermediate crude fell four cents to $ 42.62 a barrel after gaining 2.6% on Wednesday.
OPEC said in a monthly report that global oil demand will fall by 9.06 million barrels per day this year, which is more than the 8.95 million decline the organization expected a month ago.
Avtar Sandhu, director of commodities at Philip Futures, said, "OPEC issued a negative monthly forecast indicating that global oil demand will fall more sharply in 2020 compared to what was previously expected due to the Corona virus" and that there are doubts about Recover next year.
But a government report showed that stocks of crude oil, gasoline and distillates in the United States fell last week, as refiners boosted production and improved demand.
US demand for fuel rose to 19.37 million barrels per day last week, the highest since March, according to US Energy Information Administration data, while crude production fell to 10.7 million barrels per day from 11 million.
Crude inventories have decreased by 4.5 million barrels per day, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a decrease of 2.9 million barrels.
A review of the cut, by the US Energy Information Administration, of US oil production this year supported prices.
It is expected that US crude production will drop 990 thousand barrels per day this year to 11.26 million, which is more than the 600 thousand barrels decline expected by the administration last month, and this indicates that global oil demand remains in doubt.