Oil prices fell more than $1 on Wednesday to their lowest since before Russia invaded Ukraine, as Covid-19 curbs in top crude importer China and expectations of more interest rate hikes spurred worries of a global economic recession and lower fuel demand.
Brent crude LCOc1 futures fell $1.35, or 1.5%, to $91.48 a barrel after slipping 3% in the previous session. The contract hit a session low of $91.35, the lowest since Feb. 18, Reuters reported.
US West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 futures shed $1.55, or 1.8%, to $85.33. The benchmark fell to a session low of $85.17, the lowest since Jan. 26.
Oil pared strong gains made on Monday after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, a group known as OPEC+, decided to cut output by 100,000 barrels per day in October.
Diminishing the OPEC+ production cut bounce wasn’t that hard to do, given a laundry list of global economic challenges, said Edward Moya, a senior market analyst at OANDA, in a note.
Despite some better-than-expected US services data, global growth isn’t looking good at all and that is trouble for crude prices.