Commodities: Oil drops after IEA slashes demand forecasts
Front month West Texas crude futures again saw very large losses at the end of last week, dropping 4.10% to hit $57.49 per barrel on the NYMEX.
That came after the International Energy Agency (IEA) slashed its forecast for global oil demand next year, saying in a report that it would grow by 230,000 barrels less than it estimated last month.
Despite the above, speaking on Saturday the United Arab Emirates’ energy minister, Suhail Al-Mazrouei, told a conference that the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would hold by its decision not to decrease output even if oil fell to $40 per barrel on NYMEX.
Mazrouei added that “we need to wait for at least a quarter” before considering an emergency meeting.
However, over the weekend Libya was forced to declare “force majeure” at two of its ports, Es Sider and Ras Lanuf, which have a combined capacity of 560,000 barrels per day.
Three-month copper futures advanced 0.43% to $6,490 per metric tonne out on the LME.
Soybean futures for delivery in January lost 0.6% to $10.3575 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBoT).
Gold futures for delivery in February retreated 0.29% to $1,222.1 per ounce on COMEX.