The price of Texas Intermediate Oil (WTI) intensified its decline this Tuesday with another significant drop, closing with a decrease of 6.38%, to 96.44 dollars a barrel, thus ending below the 100 dollar barrier, due to the talks Come in Russia and Ukraine and the confinements decreed in China.
According to data at the end of operations in the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), WTI futures contracts for delivery in April subtracted 6.57 dollars from the previous close.
The value of Texas crude thus fell more than 20% from the level it reached a week ago, when it ended the day at 123.70 dollars a barrel, the highest settlement since August 2008 and which was a reaction to the invasion of the russian forces of Ukraine.
Analysts attributed the decline in the price of “black gold” to several factors, including talks between Ukraine and Russia that continued this Monday, whose objective is to declare a ceasefire, and a downward revision of China’s consumption of crude oil in March due to the confinements of several Chinese cities.
“Today’s actions reflect a shift in sentiment around Russia and Ukraine which has led investors to sell, coupled with basic concerns about Chinese demand caused by the lockdowns,” CIBC Private Wealth US expert Rebecca Babin explained in a note.
For his part, Again Capital analyst John Kilduff pointed out that “for the first time in a while” there are fears of low demand due to the increase in coronavirus cases in China.
The fall occurs amid volatility that began at the end of February, which led to a barrel of crude oil exceeding 100 dollars for the first time since 2014 and reaching 130 dollars last week, although after that “peak” of registered, last Wednesday, a marked decrease of more than 12% in a single day.
Meanwhile, natural gas contracts for April delivery fell 7 cents to $4.66 per thousand cubic feet, and gasoline contracts due the same month fell 14 cents to $3.17 a gallon.
