Oil prices extended losses on Monday as concerns over weakening demand for the energy persist, weighing on the market.
The West Texas Intermediate for March delivery fell 1.45 dollars, or 2.8 percent, to settle at 50.11 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier in the session, the U.S. benchmark fell more than 3 percent to 49.91 dollars per barrel, its lowest level since January 2019.
Brent crude for April delivery decreased 2.17 dollars, or about 3.8 percent, to close at 54.45 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
This reflects the concerns about a potential cooling of demand as a result of the novel coronavirus outbreak, energy analysts at Commerzbank Research said in a note on Monday, adding "OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) is therefore coming under increasing pressure to offset the decline in demand by making further cuts to supply."
The OPEC and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, are mulling meeting in February instead of March, according to some reports. In December, the group agreed to deepen production cuts by an additional 500,000 barrels a day, bringing the total cuts to 1.7 million barrels daily.
The OPEC, Russia and other producers have been largely limiting oil output in recent years in order to boost prices.
Editor:Cherie
