Oil falls below $ 80 as a result of the recovery of European COVID, Reuters reports

By Ron Bousso

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil prices fell to $ 78 a barrel on Friday as a new rise in COVID-19 cases in Europe threatened to slow economic recovery as investors also measured the potential release of gross reserves to cool prices in major economies.

It fell $ 2.78 or 3.42% to $ 78.46 a barrel at 1300 GMT, the lowest since early October, after previously rising to $ 82.24, extending the volatility seen on Thursday.

Gross delivery in the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) in December fell $ 2.61, or 3.3%, to $ 76.40 a barrel.

The WTI contract for December ends on Friday and most trading activity has shifted to the future of January, down 3.3% to $ 75.83 a barrel.

Both Brent and WTI are set to fall for the fourth week.

Austria was the first country in western Europe to re-establish a full coronary artery blockade this autumn to deal with a new wave of COVID-19 infections that threatens to slow economic recovery in recent months.

Germany, Europe’s largest economy, warned that it might have to go through a complete blockade of COVID-19.

Brent has risen nearly 60% this year as the economy has receded from the pandemic, and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, known as OPEC +, have only gradually increased production.

“The (oil) market is still basically in a good position, but the blockades are now a significant risk … if other countries follow Austria’s path,” Craig Erlam, a market analyst at OANDA, said in a statement.

Following a U.S. request that governments in the world’s largest economies are considering releasing oil from strategic oil reserves (SPRs), Reuters first reported https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exclusive-us. -big-countries-coordinate-releases-oil-reserves-sources-2021-11-17, coordinated movement to cool prices.

Speculation about the release of U.S. stocks has lowered oil prices by about $ 4 a barrel in recent weeks and additional supplies of 100 million barrels are already priced, Goldman Sachs (NYSE 🙂 oil analysts said in a statement.

As a result, he said any layoffs “would only provide a short-term fix to a structural deficit.”

OPEC + has maintained its policy of gradually increasing oil production despite rising prices, saying it expects supply to exceed demand in the first months of 2022.