Crude falls after Trump tests positive for coronavirus

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Crude oil futures fell by more than $1/bbl on Friday to its lowest levels since mid-September after it was announced that US President Donald Trump and his wife had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Prices in $/bbl	Month	Low	High	Open	Price at 06:26 GMT	Change
Brent	Dec	39.40	40.77	40.65	39.77	-1.16
WTI	Nov	37.22	38.65	38.60	37.64	-1.08

Trump had begun self-quarantine after a close aide fell ill with the coronavirus earlier this week. The aide, Hope Hicks, had travelled with Trump to the US presidential debate on 29 September and to a rally in Minnesota the following day.

There have been over 7.3m coronavirus cases in the US with more than 200,000 deaths.

Crude prices have been under pressure amid a resurgence of coronavirus infections in recent months and resultant concerns over the impact on global oil demand.

Oil demand had been recovering after plummeting in the first half of 2020 as a result of global lockdown social distancing measures introduced to combat the spread of the virus.

In its latest report, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated that global oil consumption averaged 94.3m bbl/day in August.

This is down 8.2m bbl/day from August 2019, but up from an average of 85.1m bbl/day during the second quarter of 2020 and up from 93.3m bbl/day in July 2020.

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