Oil prices fell at the end of the week, to move towards the seventh weekly decline. This comes amid the growing concern about the slowdown in global economic growth, which could lead to a decline in demand for oil as the amount of global stocks increased.
Global Brent crude futures fell nearly 3 cents to $71.40 a barrel, while US crude futures fell 1 cents to $65.45 a barrel. Brent crude is expected to drop further this week by 20%, marking its third consecutive weekly decline. West Texas oil is heading for more losses, to record a seventh weekly loss of 3%.
Economic data released on Wednesday showed a significant increase in US crude oil inventories, raising concerns about demand expectations. In addition, crude oil has been under heavy pressure due to the large sell-off of industrial commodities, led by copper, not to mention the heavy economic impact of the Turkish financial crisis.
Crude oil investors and market participants remain wary of their trades, especially as the US stockpile on Wednesday is growing. Global economic growth may also be affected by rising tensions from a possible trade war after both China and the United States have imposed tariffs on goods and products of both countries, and even announced their intention to impose more duties on exports, possibly worth billions of dollars. At the same time, the Turkish lira crisis has shaken emerging markets and expanded their effects across the stock markets, bonds, raw materials and other economic markets in the world.
Regarding the United States, economic data showed last Wednesday that US crude oil production rose by about 100 thousand barrels per day, to reach a level of 10.9 million barrels per day in the week ending August 10.
US oil inventories also recorded their biggest weekly increase since March of 2017, with 6.8 million barrels. Asian demand for crude oil has also shown signs of slowdown and damage to the economies of some of the world’s largest oil buyers due to global trade disputes and USD’s strength.
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