Oil prices continue to fall after sharp weekend losses

By Sibel Morrow

ANKARA (AA) - Crude oil prices continued to slide on Monday after a sharp weekend loss since demand is expected to abate as Saudi Arabia makes deeper price cuts.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $42.04 per barrel at 0636 GMT for a 1.4% loss after closing Friday at $42.66 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $39.20 a barrel at the same time for a 1.4% decrease after ending the previous session at $39.77 per barrel.

Oil prices posted the sharpest drop since July 30 after Saudi Arabia’s state producer, Saudi Aramco, announced it would trim October prices for its sales to the US and Saudi’s main market Asia, a move that is fueling demand concerns amid increasing coronavirus cases worldwide.

The boost in prices was eased with low oil consumption in Asia, Europe and North America with the ending of the summer driving season, indicating that global oil demand would decrease.

As the COVID-19 continues to spread around the world, the global economic outlook and overall oil demand are still below the expected levels.

The number of COVID-19 cases worldwide is now over 27 million, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.

As the US leads the number of cases with more than 6.2 million as of Monday morning, India surpassed Brazil for the first time with 4.2 million case with Brazil trailing with 4.1 million cases.