Oil prices down with demand concerns as summer ends

Sep 08, 2020: Crude oil prices were down on Tuesday with a rise in concerns over low demand with the end of the summer driving season and growing numbers of coronavirus cases worldwide.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $41.93 per barrel at 0545 GMT for a 0.19% loss after closing Monday at $42.01 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $39.02 a barrel at the same time for a 1.89% decrease after ending the previous session at $39.77 per barrel.

With the end of the summer driving season, which is indicative of a fall in global oil demand, along with low oil consumption in Asia, Europe and North America, prices were put under further downward pressure.

The increasing number of COVID-19 cases also continues to constrain oil prices, with the global economic outlook and overall oil demand negatively affected.

The number of COVID-19 cases worldwide is now over 27 million, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.

As the US leads the number of cases with more than 6.3 million as of Tuesday morning, India follows with over 4.2 million cases and Brazil records over 4.1 million cases.

AA/APP