In Wednesday’s trading, oil prices fell for the fourth consecutive day dueto concerns over slowing European demand, outweighing worries about supplydisruptions in the Middle East caused by the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.Brent crude futures dropped by 0.3 per cent to $87.79 a barrel, while U.S.West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down by 0.4 per cent to $83.43 abarrel as of 0627 GMT.
The downturn in Euro zone business activity this month was unexpected,indicating a potential slide into recession for the bloc. This decline hasnegatively impacted the outlook for oil demand, with the region’s oilrefineries consuming less crude than the previous year due to lacklustereconomic growth, as per Euroilstock data.
Efforts are underway to establish a pause or ceasefire in the Israel-Hamasconflict to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to besiegedPalestinian civilians.
Additionally, leaders of the United States and Saudi Arabia discussedmeasures to prevent the conflict from expanding to include major producerIran.
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While some attributed the oil price pullback to softer European PurchasingManagers’ Index (PMI) data, indicating decreased demand, Vishnu Varathan,head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank, noted that the softeningdemand cannot solely be attributed to war-related supply disruptions beingresolved.