Brent oil at $16 a barrel with oversupply, weak demand

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Brent crude traded at around $16 per barrel on Wednesday as weak oil demand and rising oversupply in the world continues to keep firm pressure on prices.

The price of the international benchmark was trading at $16.73 per barrel at 0620 GMT for a 12.1% decline after closing Tuesday at $19.03 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $7.37 a barrel at the same time for a 7.64% loss after ending the previous day at $7.98 per barrel.

Due to coronavirus-related low demand and the rising glut of supply, oil storage levels are mounting and available capacity is running out.

"With global oil demand this month close to 29 million barrels a day below year-ago levels, there is currently massive oversupply, which is threatening to overwhelm storage capacity in the coming weeks," International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a statement on Tuesday.

Birol recalled that the IEA last week described the current month as "Black April" for the industry, and added "the supply adjustments are insufficient to rebalance the market immediately because of the magnitude of the drop in demand resulting from the Covid-19 crisis."

The IEA also urged that countries with strategic oil reserves make capacity available to help take surplus barrels off the market.