Oil slides as virus outbreak shakes economic growth predictions - Reuters

Oil slides as virus outbreak shakes economic growth predictions - Reuters:

Oil prices fell on Friday and were on track for a fourth straight weekly loss on mounting worries about economic damage from the coronavirus that has spread from China to around 20 countries, killing more than 200 people.

Prices briefly found support after Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Russia was ready to bring forward a meeting of OPEC and its allies to February from March to address a possible hit to global oil demand from the virus. [nL8N2A067O]

Novak said he was in discussions with OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and that the oil-producing nations would need several more days to assess the impact and decide on the date of the meeting.

“The cartel stands ready to act again if necessary but may accept the short-term pain for now on the expectation that the economic consequences won’t be as bad as people fear and (the) price will bounce back to more acceptable levels on its own,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA.

Brent crude LCOc1 fell 13 cents to settle at $58.16 a barrel and was down about 4% on the week.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) CLc1 fell 58 cents to end the session at $51.56 a barrel, down 4.8% on the week. During the session, prices sank to as low as $50.97 a barrel, the lowest since early August.