Crude oil prices continued to fall today, with a barrel of WTI trading at its lowest price since December 2021 on concerns about the potential impact of Credit Suisse’s difficulties following the SVB collapse.
At 11:30am Lisbon time, Brent North Sea crude for May delivery was down 1.43% at $76.34, trading at its lowest level of the year.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for April delivery, fell 1.53% to $70.24, shortly after hitting $69.76, a 15-month low.
The prices of both world references fell more than 8% in one week.
The repercussions of the bankruptcy of the US bank Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) continue to “affect the financial markets and the oil market”, say analysts at Energi Danmark quoted by AFP, putting pressure on investors to favor safe havens.
“The market fears a recession and a drop in demand is pushing prices down,” they say.
On Wednesday, concerns about the state of banks crystallized around Credit Suisse’s difficulties, while the largest shareholder, the Saudi National Bank, ruled out any capital increase for the troubled bank.
“What started as a regional US banking crisis suddenly became a European crisis,” Chris Beauchamp, an analyst at IG, told AFP.
Oil had started the European session higher after “a flurry of positive macroeconomic data” from China, the world’s biggest crude importer, said Stephen Brennock, an analyst at PVM Energy.
The country’s retail sales, the main indicator of domestic consumption, registered the first recovery since September, a sign of a recovery in activity since the lifting of anti-covid restrictions.
DNB analysts also pointed to an increase in output from Chinese refineries in January and February, also indicating a recovery in fuel demand.
On Tuesday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) revised Chinese demand up in its monthly report.
Source: TSF
