Tuesday 15 March 2022

Oil plunges over 6% on easing supply concerns, China COVID cases | Reuters

Oil plunges over 6% on easing supply concerns, China COVID cases | Reuters

Oil prices tumbled more than 6% to their lowest in almost three weeks on Tuesday as supply disruption fears eased and surging COVID-19 cases in China spurred demand concerns.

Brent futures plummeted $6.99, or 6.5%, to settle at $99.91 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $6.57, or 6.4%, to settle at $96.44 a barrel. Both contracts settled below $100 per barrel for the first time since late February.

Brent fell as low as $97.44 during Tuesday's session and WTI hit $93.53, their lowest since Feb. 25.

Both contracts moved the closest to oversold territory since December. They had been in overbought conditions as recently as early March, when the benchmarks reached 14-year highs after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Since then, Brent has lost nearly $40 and WTI has fallen by more than $30.

The steep decline on Tuesday came as Russia said that it has received written guarantees it can carry out its work as a party to the Iran nuclear deal, suggesting that Moscow would allow a revival of the tattered 2015 pact to go forward.

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