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Reuters
Oil prices fell for a sixth day, today Thursday, in the longest streak of losses since February 2020, as rising Covid-19 cases fueled concerns over fuel demand.
Brent crude fell 1.3% to $ 67.36 a barrel at 4:47 a.m. GMT after hitting its lowest level since May 24, 2021 at $ 67.10 earlier in the session.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.6% to $ 64.41 a barrel after falling to $ 64.24, also the lowest level since May 24.
U.S. crude fell more than 7%, while Brent fell more than 5% in the continued six-day wave of losses, which is the longest since a six-day drop for both contracts, and stopped on February 28, 2020.
Prices fell as investors remained concerned about an increase in Corona virus cases caused by the ‘delta’ strain around the world, while virus-related deaths rose in the United States, the world’s largest consumer of oil to the world, over the past month.
The drop in oil prices was caused by slower growth in China, the world’s largest oil importer, as it imposed more restrictions due to an increase in Covid-19 infections and some weak US data released this week, ”Craig Erlam, chief market analyst at“ Oanda Europe ”said in a note. the past”.
A sudden increase in gasoline inventories in the United States last week also raised concerns about slowing demand, particularly since the northern hemisphere summer, which is when fuel demand typically reaches a peak.
And the US Energy Information Administration said yesterday, Wednesday, gasoline inventories rose 696,000 barrels to 228.2 million barrels, while analysts expected a decline of 1.7 million barrels.
But the administration also said U.S. crude inventories fell 3.2 million barrels last week to 435.5 million, the lowest level since January 2020.
Source: Reuters
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