Oil prices fell today, Friday, for the sixth consecutive day, to decline by about 9% for the week, as a new wave of Covid-19 infections, especially in Europe, imposed new general isolation measures and dampened hopes for an imminent recovery of fuel demand.
US West Texas Intermediate crude fell 4 cents, or 0.07%, to $ 59.96 a barrel, and Brent crude fell ten cents, or 0.16%, to $ 63.18 a barrel.
Jeffrey Haley, chief market analyst at Oanda, said in a note on Friday that oil rose in morning trade in Asia after dropping 7 percent on Thursday, as buyers in the metropolitan market took advantage of the opportunity to buy cheap crude.
But analysts say that the market is still worried about growing concerns about the prospects for fuel demand, in light of the increase in infections with the Coronavirus, new restrictions and slowdown in vaccine distribution in some countries.
Goldman Sachs said adverse factors linked to EU demand and Iranian supplies would slow the oil market's recovery by 0.75 million barrels per day in the second quarter, although it expects OPEC + to compensate for that.
Supplies are also abundant, as Saudi Arabia's crude exports increased in January for the seventh month in a row, reaching their highest levels since April 2020, according to the Joint Data Initiative website on Thursday.
Shipments from the world's largest exporter increased to 6.582 million barrels per day in January from 6.495 million the previous month.
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