Oil slumps over 4% as traders fret over Coronavirus impact on crude demand
World oil prices tumbled by more than four per cent on Thursday, as traders fretted about the impact of spreading coronavirus on crude demand, particularly from key consumer China.
Brent oil for April delivery tanked almost 4.2 per cent to $51.20 per barrel, while New York’s WTI crude for the same month dived nearly 5.0 per cent to $46.31.
For the first time since the start of the coronavirus outbreak erupted in China, the number of new coronavirus infections outside the country exceeded new Chinese cases.
The spread of the virus to large economies including South Korea, Japan and Italy has raised concerns that growth in fuel demand will be limited. Consultants Facts Global Energy forecast oil demand would grow by 60,000 barrels per day in 2020, a level it called “practically zero”, due to the outbreak.
