Oil prices slide around 1% on Monday, extending losses of over 3% from Friday, when crude markets slipped to their biggest monthly losses in six months amid stalling demand and as trade wars fanned fears of a global economic slowdown.
Brent crude futures were at $61.28 at 0659 GMT. That was 71 cents, or 1.1%, below Friday’s close.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $53.09 per barrel, down 41 cents, or 0.8%, from their last settlement.
“Oil prices slid on fresh trade worries after U.S. President Donald Trump stoked global trade tensions by threatening tariffs on Mexico, which is one of the largest U.S. trade partners and a major supplier of crude oil,” Mithun Fernando, investment analyst at Australia’s Rivkin Securities, said in a note on Monday.
“Traders are increasingly pricing in a prolonged trade war hitting the global economy,” said Jasper Lawler, head of research at futures brokerage London Capital Group.
“The U.S.-China feud remains most critical to the global growth outlook, but the addition of trade tensions between the U.S. and Mexico raised the slower demand picture for the Americas,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA, another futures brokerage.
Barclays bank said in a note published last Friday that U.S. March oil consumption “declined significantly year-on-year for the first time since September 2017 …(as) petroleum demand fell almost 370,000 barrels per day (bpd) year-on-year on weak consumption across the barrel.”
