Oil steadies after Monday’s rout as dollar slips
21 Jul 2015
US oil prices steadied a bit on Tuesday after dipping below $50 a barrel on Monday - for the first time since April – helped by a slight fall in the value of the dollar.
Oil prices that have plummeted on concerns of supplies overstripping demand, however, is on track for their biggest monthly drop since March in the face of a global supply glut.
A nuclear deal between Iran and the West, a slowing Chinese demand and faltering recovery in Europe have all combined to strip almost 11 per cent off the price of crude oil so far in July, putting further pressure on oil prices.
On Tuesday, Brent crude for September was 15 cents lower at $56.50 a barrel by 0825 GMT, after settling 45 cents lower on Monday. Brent has fallen in 10 out of the last 12 months.
US sweet light crude for August, set to expire on Tuesday, fell 15 cents to $50.00 a barrel, but slightly higher than the Monday's level of below $50 a barrel. West Texas Crude has lost $9 a barrel since April.
The August delivery settled down 74 cents, or 1.5 per cent, at $50.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest settlement since 2 April, after slipping as low as $49.85 a barrel earlier in the session.
Last week, the International Energy Agency had projected that global oil demand growth would slow next year to 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) from 1.4 million this year - far lower than needed to balance the growing supplies.
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