The price of crude oil continues to win back the negative news this morning and go down. It is worth noting that the Brent brand still tried to cope up with the problems and traded for a short time in the green zone, but then, it went to negative territory. The WTI brand could not overcome the negative pressure at all.
The main attention of the market participants as of this moment is directed towards the increasingly complicated situation of coronavirus infection. The epidemiological situation is not improving at all, the growth of infections is only becoming faster. Mainly, this has a strong impact on the level of demand for crude oil, which may soon become even lower because it is still quite limited. At least, all the news about COVID-19 is immediately perceived by investors with hostility. Among the latest negative news was that a new strain of coronavirus was detected in the United States of America, which up to this point was discovered in South Africa. Given the fact that the US authorities already understand that mass vaccination in the country is going with a big delay and problems, the coronavirus mutation can again lead to a state of emergency,
It is already clear how seriously restrictive quarantine measures affect the tourism sector in the United States and around the world. The total number of tourist trips was greatly reduced, which has led to a decrease in fuel consumption. Thus, the demand for fuel has already faced great difficulties, which will only increase in the near future. Given that the authorities of the states do not welcome the active movement of citizens, the situation can escalate to its limit.
The price of futures contracts for Brent Crude Oil for March delivery on the trading floor in London rose slightly by 0.29% or $ 0.16 this morning, which allowed them to move to a new level of $ 55.37 per barrel. However, all the positivity is gradually fading away. We may recall that yesterday's trading ended with a reduction in the value of contracts by 0.5% or $ 0.28, and the final price was $ 55.53 per barrel. It is also worth noting that the validity of contracts for March will end today.
The price of futures contracts for WTI crude oil for delivery in March on the electronic trading platform in New York falls by 0.63% or 0.33 dollars today, which moves it to the level of $ 52.01 dollars per barrel. Thursday's trading session ended in the red zone: the decline was 1% or $ 0.51, and the price was around $ 52.34 per barrel.
Among other things, there's another important topic for the oil market that is related to the policy of the European Union. We are talking about the scandal over the coronavirus vaccine for the UK. In particular, the EU leadership will decide whether to restrict the export of Pfizer's drug, produced by a Belgian company under license to the UK. The main argument of the authorities is based on the fact that European countries are now experiencing a serious shortage of vaccines and the threat of the spread of new strains is only growing. Of course, the pressure from this on the oil market will definitely increase, and the mood of investors begins to deteriorate significantly. All this, of course, can collapse the black gold market even more in the short term, which is what most analysts suggest to prepare for.
