U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate fell below $20 a barrel, the lowest price since 2002, after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a huge jump of almost 20 million barrels in U.S. crude inventories. At 1:00 P.m. New York time West Texas Intermediate traded at $19.91 a barrel.
International benchmark Brent crude fell 5.41% to $28.00 a barrel. From Paris the International Energy Administration warned that even OPEC+’s historic production cut wouldn’t end the supply/demand imbalance in the global market for oil Oil demand will drop by over 9 million barrels a day this year. That will exhaust storage capacity by mid-year, likely leading to another step down in prices as producers literally have no place to send their oil. Consumption in April will fall by almost a third to the lowest level since 1995, making this year the worst in the history of the oil market, the International Energy Administration said. Global inventories will accumulate by 12 million barrels a day in the first half of the year and “overwhelm the logistics of the oil industry” in the coming weeks.
