Oil is heading for its first quarterly decline in two years due to fears of slowing global economic growth.
Citi said that demand has fallen due to the intermittent shutdowns of China, while the outlook for the European economy tends to be negative, and higher prices might weaken demand for oil in the United States.
The bank added that oil prices are still under selling pressure due to the build-up of stocks.
Oil prices fell today, Friday, to trade at levels not seen since January, in light of the dollar index reaching its highest level in two decades and concerns regarding demand with raising interest rates that threaten to push large economies into slack.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude contracts for November delivery fell 5.52% to $78.88. A barrel of Brent North Sea crude for delivery in the same month fell 4.81% to $86.11.
After oil rose to 130.50 dollars for West Texas Intermediate crude and 139.13 dollars for Brent crude, at the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, due to restrictions on Russian supplies, it returned to decline sharply.
In light of fears of a global recession, and thus a return to the decline in demand for oil, the rise recorded by US crude since the beginning of 2022 is now only regarding 5%.
The contracts for the nearest maturity of Brent crude and US crude decreased by 3.78% and 5.37%, respectively, during the past week.
Central banks around the world raised interest rates following the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 75 basis points for the third time on Wednesday, raising the risks of an economic slowdown.
