After climbing back to pre-pandemic levels, oil prices began to fall again. A slight increase in crude oil prices caused by the temporary truce in the oil price war, the extension of the OPEC+ deal, and the global economic recovery failed to become a long-term trend. As a result, the price of Brent crude went down below $68 per barrel on London’s ICE. Oil prices did start to rise but could not reach new highs and are unlikely to do so anytime soon. The OPEC+ agreement to reduce oil production, which many believed to be futile, initially had no chance of becoming a serious growth driver. Markets had pinned their hopes on the fact that the decline would be offset by a rising demand amid a global economic recovery. However, these hopes had not been fulfilled, and a new outbreak of COVID-19 in China was the reason for an uncontrollable price collapse. Now experts predict the third wave of the pandemic which has several stages. And while the first and second waves are already over in most countries, the third wave is yet to come. The European Commission has already warned of a possible second wave of the coronavirus and called on EU countries to prepare for such a scenario. All indications are that demand for oil will continue to fall along with prices. Over the past month, oil has dropped by almost ten dollars from its July highs. Investors are concerned about the fact that China has imposed massive travel restrictions, while Australia, Japan, and the United States have recently broken records for the number of people infected with the Delta variant.
