Oil prices fell nearly 6 percent last week, falling to 39.8 dollars a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude to 37.3 dollars a barrel in the second straight weekly loss as infections of coronavirus in some countries, particularly India, the United States and Brazil, worsened as oil demand continued to weaken and global supply grew as the recovery of the world economy slowed so far due to the deadly pandemic Covid-19.
Oil prices fell 23 cents to the end of the week, or 0.6 percent, while U.S. crude climbed 3 cents.
Reuters reported that oil prices were little changed on Friday, but suffered a weekly loss for the second time in a row.
Investors expect global supply to continue to be overheating as demand continues to weaken as infections of coronavirus increase in some countries.
The decline in oil prices with the increasing rate of new infections in India
The rate of new infections in India jumped faster than anywhere else to 96,551 new cases, bringing the official total to 4.5 million.
US stock prices fell by the end of the week, and the three major stock indices are also heading for a weekly loss for the second time in a row.
Recent economic indicators indicate a slow recovery in the United States, the largest economy in the world, due to the coronavirus epidemic.
And crude inventories in the United States rose 2 million barrels last week, contrary to expectations for a slow return of refineries to operations after their closure.
And US energy companies have also recently been increasing the number of operating oil and gas rigs, but this week the number decreased to 238.
In another negative sign, dealers have begun to book tankers to store crude oil and diesel, with the economic recovery faltering and with the continuation of the coronavirus epidemic.
The issue of the inventory increase is likely to be raised at the September 17th meeting of the Market Watch Committee of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and OPEC +.
The group is restrictingsupplies to reduce stocks, but analysts say the meeting will likely focus on member compliance rather than seeking deeper cuts.
On the other hand, the giant oil company Chevron announced on Saturday that it had begun evacuating two offshore oil platforms due to a new hurricane.
Chevron is preparing to halt extraction operations as a possible hurricane begins to creep into the Gulf of Mexico, which will reduce production relatively.
A spokeswoman for Chevron said that the company had begun the process of evacuating all workers from the platforms (Blind Faith) and (Petronas) and began to implement procedures for their closure.
Oil prices fell about 2% on Thursday after US data showed a sudden increase in crude stocks last week.
The US Energy Information Administration said that crude inventories rose by two million barrels the previous week and confirmed that the upward trend predicted by an increase of three million barrels in the American Petroleum Institute report, but in contrast to a decline of 1.3 million barrels that analysts had expected in a poll conducted by Reuters.
Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch & Co. in Galena, Illinois, said today's crude data appeared to support the price decline.
He pointed to the continued decline in oil prices unless refiners in the Gulf of Mexico return to work at full capacity after the closure due to Hurricane Laura.
