Oil futures fell Tuesday to their lowest levels since June, unable to shake off worries about crude demand due to a continued rise in coronavirus cases, the end of U.S. summer holiday driving season and a report that Saudi Arabia plans to cut its oil prices in October.
The U.S. benchmark, West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery
CL.1,
CLV20,
fell $3.01, or 7.6%, to $36.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. November Brent crude
BRN.1,
BRNX20,
the global benchmark, was off $2.13, or 5.1%, at $39.88 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, after a 1.5% decline on Monday, when U.S. markets were closed for Labor Day.
Both crude benchmarks were poised to mark their lowest front-month contract settlements since June, according to FactSet data.
Crude was pressured Monday after Saudi Arabia lowered its official selling price for Asian buyers, analysts said, which was taken as a sign of weak demand.
Prices were expected to be cut for Asia-bound crude by $1 to $2 a barrel, market sources told S&P Global Platts in the last week of August.
The key concern for the market remains demand, and with China having restocked in prior months, sizable fresh Chinese buying appears to be absent from the market at the moment,” said Warren Patterson, global head of commodities at ING, in a note.
After record volumes in June, customs data showed Chinese crude imports in August averaged 11.23 million barrels a day, down from 12.13 million barrels in July and well below the record 12.99 million barrels seen in June, he said, noting that on a year-over-year basis, imports remain up 13%.
The decline for oil prices also comes as U.S. driving season, the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day, comes to an end, pointing to seasonal weakness in demand for gasoline.
Despite the headline news of the Saudis cutting oil prices and lower demand concerns due to the pandemic, however, Daniel Flynn, a market analyst at The Price Futures Group said he believes the market “already has priced in lower demand and has recovered from the market going negative a few months back.”
So if “states continue to reopen, we should see businesses and demand increase to levels that were expected before this nightmare,” he said in a daily report.
On Nymex, October gasoline
RBV20,
fell 6.1% to $1.1047 a gallon, while October heating oil
HOV20,
dropped 6.9% to $1.0718 a gallon.
October natural-gas futures
NGV20,
were off 2.9% at $2.512 per million British thermal units.
