LONDON: Oil prices slumped again on Monday on concerns over scarce storage capacity, especially in the United States, and global economic doldrums from the coronavirus pandemic.
US oil futures led losses, falling by more than $3 a barrel on fears that storage at Cushing, Oklahoma, could reach full capacity soon.
US West Texas Intermediate June futures fell $3.61, or 21.3%, to $13.33 a barrel by 1215 GMT.
Brent crude was down $1.17, or 5.5%, at $20.27 a barrel. The June Brent contract expires on Thursday.
Oil futures marked their third straight week of losses last week, with Brent ending 24% down and WTI off about 7%. Prices have now fallen for eight of the past nine weeks.
The June WTI contract’s price fall may have been triggered partly by investors moving to later months after the May contract lapsed into negative territory for the first time before its expiry last week.
The front-month contract was trading at lower than usual volumes.
“The market is very concerned about a repeat of negative pricing as the Cushing storage and delivery hub saturates,” Harry Tchilinguirian, global oil strategist at BNP Paribas in London, told the Reuters Global Oil Forum. “The shift of open interest away from June will have negative consequences for the liquidity of the contract, potentially leading to greater volatility in its price.” he added.
US crude inventories rose to 518.6 million barrels in the week to April 17, near the record 535 million barrels set in 2017.
Cushing, the delivery point for WTI, was 70% full in mid-April, though traders said all available space was already leased.
Global economic output is expected to contract by 2% this year — worse than the financial crisis — while demand has collapsed by 30% because of the pandemic.
In the United States, a record 26.5 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits since mid-March and the Congressional Budget Office predicted that the economy would contract by nearly 40% annually in the second quarter.
“The current oil balance is simply awful, and no improvement is anticipated until after June due to (the) massive fall in global oil demand,” said oil broker PVM’s Tamas Varga.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, this month pledged to cut output by an unprecedented 9.7 million barrels per day in May and June.
Kuwait and Azerbaijan are coordinating oil output cuts, while Russia is set to reduce its western seaborne exports by half in May.
Oil prices resume slide on oversupply and storage concerns
https://arab.news/6nuvg
Oil prices resume slide on oversupply and storage concerns
- Crude in US storage near record high
- Brent ended last week down 24%; WTI off around 7%
Closing Bell: Saudi main index extends gains as market opens wider to foreign investment
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index rose on Monday, gaining 153.61 points, or 1.38 percent, to close at 11,321.09.
The total trading turnover of the benchmark index was SR5.85 billion ($1.56 billion), as 207 of the listed stocks advanced, while 55 retreated.
The MSCI Tadawul Index increased, up 21.20 points or 1.41 percent, to close at 1,524.18.
The Kingdom’s parallel market Nomu gained 278.13 points, or 1.17 percent, to close at 24,013.03. This comes as 43 of the listed stocks advanced, while 29 retreated.
The best-performing stock was Saudi Pharmaceutical Industries and Medical Appliances Corp., with its share price surging by 7.26 percent to SR28.94.
Other top performers included Rasan Information Technology Co., which saw its share price rise by 6.51 percent to SR144, and Knowledge Economic City, which saw a 6.25 percent increase to SR13.09.
On the downside, the worst performer of the day was Najran Cement Co., whose share price fell by 2.11 percent to SR6.49.
Almasane Alkobra Mining Co. and Saudi Cable Co. also saw declines, with their shares dropping by 2 percent and 1.88 percent to SR103.10 and SR166.80, respectively.
On the announcement front, Riyad Bank has announced its annual financial results for 2025, with the total income from special commission of financing reaching SR24.1 billion, while net income from special commission of financing amounted to SR12 billion.
In a statement on Tadawul, the bank said: “Net income increased by 11.7 percent mainly due to an increase in total operating income and a decrease in total operating expenses.”
The bank further noted that the rise in total operating income was primarily driven by increased revenue from fees and commissions, trading activities, special commissions, gains on non-trading investments, and other operating sources. This growth was partially tempered by declines in exchange and dividend income.
“Net provision of expected credit losses and other losses decreased by 15.8 percent due to a decrease in impairment charge of credit losses and impairment charge for other financial assets, partially offset by an increase in impairment charge for investments,” it added.
RIBL’s share price closed at SR18.18 on the main market, marking a 1.43 percent increase.
