Crude oil fell in Asian trade on Thursday, with Brent marking another 12-year low amid gloom over a world awash with supply and concerns about global economic growth hitting equity markets according to a Reuters report on Wed Jan 13, 2016.
Brent LCOc1 dropped as far as $29.73, the lowest since February 2004 and down more than 1.5 percent. It was down 47 cents at $29.84 a barrel at 0145 GMT and the contract has fallen every trading this year.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) CLc1 erased earlier gains and was down 12 cents at $30.36 a barrel. It settled at $30.48 on Wednesday, up 4 cents, the contract’s first gain in 2016.
It was the second time in two days for Brent, the global benchmark, to drop below $30 a barrel after WTI fell below that mark on Tuesday, before recouping some of the losses.
“Perhaps $30 or just slightly below is acting as a little bit of a floor, but that being said that’s a straw in a hay barn in terms of positivity,” said Ben le Brun, market analyst at Options Xpress in Sydney.
“The rest of the news is decidedly negative about oil,” he said.
A bearish report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Tuesday underlined concerns that demand is stagnating as more supply comes to market.
Data showing that crude inventories USOILC=ECI rose 234,000 barrels last week, much less than expectations, was overshadowed by reported builds of 8.4 million barrels in gasoline USOILG=ECI and over 6 million in distillates, which includes diesel and heating oil USOILD=ECI.