Oil prices continued to lose ground due to the impossibility of shaking off the fear of a new halt in activity worldwide due to the increase in cases of coronavirus and with the oil industry on the verge of a crisis.
At the close, the price of a barrel of Brent oil for delivery in December ended on the London futures market at 37.46 dollars, 0.93% less than at the end of the previous session. North Sea crude, a benchmark in Europe, ended the day on the International Exchange Futures with a decline of $ 0.35 compared to the last trade when it closed at $ 37.81.
For its part, the Texas intermediate oil price (WTI) closed down 1.1%, to $ 35.79 a barrel, its lowest level in five months, and ended October with a loss of value around 12%.
The price of crude oil closed yesterday with a loss of more than 3% due to the fact that covid-19 cases continue to rise in the United States and Europe and measures to reduce mobility have begun to be imposed, affecting economic activity and consumption.
The oil company Exxon announced yesterday that it could cut its workforce by up to 15% worldwide, while analysts expect a wave of bankruptcies and consolidations in the industry, especially in that of “fracking” and exploitation of less productive fields in the United States they cannot compete with these low prices.
The countries of the Organization of Petroleum Producing Countries (OPEC) and Russia will meet at the end of November to foreseeably review their agreement to increase production by 2 million barrels a day in January, something that would not help the maintenance of prices if the pandemic continues to advance in winter.
Saudi Arabia and Russia are in favor of maintaining the production reduction of 7.7 million barrels per day until next year, while Libya restarts its production operations.
“Global mobility is increasingly polarized by region. Discretionary activity in Europe is on the decline while driving and flying in the United States are registering the highest levels since the pandemic began, “explained Mike Tran, an analyst at RBC Capital.
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