Oil plunges to below $92 on eurozone woes
19 May 2012
Crude oil stretched its third weekly decline dropping to $91.80 a barrel on Friday over the deepening euro zone debt crisis and a possible exit of Greece from the euro, and concerns of a slowdown in China, the world's second-largest economy.
On Nymex, crude oil for June delivery dropped over 1.2 per cent to $91.80 a barrel, the lowest in six months. Three-weekly losses were around 12.8 per cent, the biggest percentage drop since August 2011. Fall for the week was around 4.8 per cent.
News from Europe about Moody's downgrading of 16 Spanish banks, Fitch's rating cut on Greece and the political turmoil there greatly affected the market sentiment.
It was reported that the German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the eurozone crisis may last for two more years.
The drop in US consumer confidence and high oil supply levels reaching a 22-year peak pushed the prices down by 11 per cent for the quarter, after recording a 4.2 per cent surge in the previous quarter.
Brent crude fell to a five-month low of $107 a barrel, down 0.3 per cent and the three-weekly loss was 10.6 per cent, the biggest in percentage terms in one year.
Heating oil fell 0.67 to $2.87 a gallon on Nymex, falling 4.5 per cent for the week, continuing weekly losses a third week.
American Petroleum instituted data revealed that petroleum consumption in the US fell 0.3 per cent in April compared to a year ago.
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