Oil prices fell on Friday, extending heavy overnight losses as a surge in US coronavirus cases this week raised the prospect of a second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak hitting demand in the world’s biggest consumer of crude and fuel.
West Texas Intermediate was down 65 cents, or nearly 2%, at $35.69 a barrel, after slumping more than 8% on Thursday. Brent crude was down 58 cents, or 1.5%, at $37.97 a barrel, having dropped nearly 8% the previous session, CNBC reported.
A rally that raised oil off April lows has come to a shuddering halt this week as the market faced the reality that the coronavirus pandemic may be far from over, with cases in the United States alone passing 2 million.
The oil benchmarks are heading for their first weekly declines in seven, with Brent dropping about 10% and US crude also down around 10%.
Producers from the United States, as well as from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, have been cutting supply, some by record amounts.
Still, US crude and gasoline stockpiles grew last week, according to government data. US crude oil inventories rose to a record 538.1 million barrels, as cheap imports from Saudi Arabia flowed into the country.
That gave rise to worries about a continuing supply-demand imbalance, as states including Texas and Arizona are seeing their coronavirus infections jump and are struggling to cope with a growing number of patients filling hospital beds.
More than 7.43 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus around the world and more than 400,000 have died.
