Islamabad, Sep8: The price of oil declined, with Brent crude sliding below $72 due to weak demand and rumors that Libya is almost ready to approve the start of crude oil exports again.Following a wave of weak demand-side developments that saw Brent prices fall below $75 per barrel this week, crude oil futures saw losses in mid-morning Asian trade on September 8.
WTI oil was selling at $67.67 at the time of reporting, down 2.14 percent or $1.48 from the previous day. At 13:17 PKT, Brent crude was trading at $71.06, down 1.63 or 2.24 percent.
According to a number of X pundits, Brent crude is not expected to rise above $90 this year unless Israel’s genocide against Palestine becomes serious enough to involve major oil exporters. In the meanwhile, OPEC is anticipated to maintain its production cutbacks through the remainder of the year, with a potential easing in early 2025, in order to maintain crude prices in the $70-$90 per barrel area.
Oil prices have also been negatively impacted by worries about weakening Chinese demand and possible settlements to Libya’s oil export conflicts. Even with last week’s 6.9 million barrel reduction in US crude stockpiles, Brent is presently at its lowest level since June 2023.
Bank of America has lowered its prediction for the price of Brent crude oil from $90 to $75 per barrel for the second half of 2024. Because of the recession in the global economy and in particular the weak demand from China, analysts predict that oil prices will remain volatile. OPEC’s continuous production cuts and more than anticipated US inventory drawdowns are, nevertheless, supporting prices to some extent.
