According to trading data, world oil prices fell by more than 7% in the first week of August, which was the strongest weekly decline since October 2020.
According to the results of trading, the price of October futures for Brent crude oil fell by 0.8% to $ 70.7 per barrel. In September, WTI futures fell 1.2% to $ 68.28 a barrel.
This week, the market was covered by a wave of fears associated with the spread of the delta strain of coronavirus. In particular, investors became more afraid of demand after China imposed restrictions on movement in some cities and tightened quarantine measures.
Oil fell from Monday to Wednesday, and on Thursday prices rose by more than 1% as traders began to play back the data of the US Department of Energy on gasoline stocks. For the week ended July 30, gasoline stocks fell to their lowest level since November 2020 and amounted to 228.9 million barrels.
On Friday, oil prices rose, but could not stay in the “green zone”. In general, for the week Brent crude oil fell by 7.4%, WTI – by 7.7%. This weekly decline was the strongest since October 2020.
Meanwhile, according to oil service company Baker Hughes, the number of operating oil rigs in the United States for the week ended August 6, increased by two to 387 units.