Oil Demand Is Threatened, Prices Dip – 19 August, 2020

A less than expected drop in crude prices as well as a threat to the demand recovery in the case of a prolonged crisis caused oil prices to dip. Brent crude shed 0.8% or 36 cents to $45.01 per barrel, dropping 0.2% the previous session. U.S. oil fell 0.9% or 38 cents to $42.55 per barrel, leaving behind slight gains made the previous session. U.S. crude net imports rose, however stockpiles fell for a fourth straight week, though the Aug 14 1.6 million barrel decline was still less than the analysts expectation of a 2.7 million barrel drop. The minister of Saudi Energy is expecting demand to recover to pre-pandemic levels, urging OPEC+ to extend production cuts.