AS the Covid-19 pandemic brought oil consumption to a halt, leading countries in a race to find more space to store excess oil, the fight for market share between major producers Saudi Arabia and Russia continued unabated causing the global oil price to dip further.
On sectoral performance on Bursa Malaysia, 18 energy counters were down in early trade as benchmark Brent crude slipped to below US$20 per barrel, the second time in a week.
As at 9.40am, a total of 152,019,600 shares worth RM24.13 mil were traded.
Over the past week, since the oil price crash took place, the index had declined almost 10% to 655.50 points today.
Brent crude was recorded at US$19.73 per barrel while WTI crude was at US$11.95 per barrel.
China’s import of Russian oil reportedly jumped more than 31% last month while its intake of Saudi crude slid by 1.8% compared to March 2019 as the battle between the world’s largest oil producers to secure market share grew in intensity.
Meanwhile, South Korea, the country with the fourth-largest commercial storage capacity in Asia, has just run out of room to store more oil.
Analysts believe the volatility in the oil market is far from bottoming out with Brent expected to trade at US$10 per barrel.
“With the prolonged impact of Covid-19 across the globe where all types of travel have been at a standstill, coupled with a sharp decline in private consumption, it is difficult for the oil market to rebound in the near term,” an analyst said. — April 28, 2020, Bernama
