Oil in free fall: it plummeted another 3% and Brent pierced US$80

The prices of oil fell almost 3% this Wednesday at your lowest level in more than three months, due to concern about Decreased demand in the United States and China.

Crude oil futures Brent fell $2.07, or 2.5%, to $79.54 a barrel; Meanwhile he US crude oil lost $2.04, or 2.63%, to $75.33. Both had fallen to their lowest level since mid-July.

ING analysts Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey said in a note to clients that “the market is clearly less concerned about the possibility of supply disruptions from the Middle East and is instead focused on an easing of the balance”in reference to the crude oil supply conditions.

Crude oil production in the United States will increase this year somewhat less than expected, but demand will fallThe US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Tuesday.

The EIA now expects total U.S. oil consumption to fall by 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year, reversing its previous forecast of an increase of 100,000 bpd.

Crude oil inventories in the United States increased by almost 12 million barrels last weekmarket sources reported late Tuesday, citing figures from the American Petroleum Institute.

The EIA will delay the release of weekly inventory data until the week of November 13.

Data from China, the world’s biggest crude oil importer, compounded fears of weakening global demand and showed its total exports of goods and services contracted faster than expected.

However, Chinese crude oil imports posted strong growth in October and its central bank governor said Wednesday that the world’s second-largest economy is expected to hit its gross domestic product growth target this year. Beijing has set a growth target of around 5% this year.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs estimated that net seaborne oil exports from six OPEC countries will remain just 600,000 bpd below April levels. OPEC has announced cumulative output cuts worth 2 million bpd from April 2023.