Oil plunges to 2-week low on US inventory shock, rise in COVID-19 cases

Oil prices plunged to their least expensive in 2 weeks after main figures showed a surprise dive in U.S. inventories of crude, and increasing cases of COVID-19 in Europe, Russia, and some break outs of infections in China dented wish for a financial recovery.Brent crude dropped 94 cents, or 1.1%, to$83.64 a barrel by 0655 GMT, having actually hit a two-week low of$ 82.32 earlier and fallen by 2.1 %in the previous session.U.S. oil was down 89 cents, likewise a 1.1% drop, at$81.77 a barrel– a one-week low after dropping 2.4%on Wednesday.Outbreaks of coronavirus infections in China and record deaths and the danger of lockdowns in Russia, in addition to rising cases in western Europe were putting the brakes on a multi-week rally in oil prices.”A rise in new cases of COVID-19 threatens to interfere with the recovery in oil demand,”ANZ Research products strategists Daniel Hynes and Soni Kumari stated in a brand-new report on Thursday.In the U.S., the economy most likely grew at the slowest rate in more than twelve months in the June-September quarter amid a revival of COVID-19 infections, amid strained worldwide supply chains and worldwide scarcities of items like autos.Crude stocks increased by 4.3 million barrels recently, the U.S. Energy Department said, more than double the 1.9 million-barrel gain forecast by analysts.The”hefty”stock build came”on the back of a big

jump in net imports of petroleum and still slow refinery processing,”Citi Research commodities analysts said in a note.Still, fuel stocks fell by 2 million barrels to the most affordable

in nearly 4 years, even as U.S. customers battle with rising rates to fill their tanks. [EIA/S] At the WTI shipment center in Cushing, Oklahoma, unrefined storage is the most depleted in 3 years, with prices for longer-dated futures agreements showing materials will remain low for months.