London/New York – The price of Brent North Sea crude fell below $80 per barrel today for the first time since July. Uncertainty about the development of demand is behind its decline. In addition, fears that the wider conflict in the Middle East could disrupt oil supplies have eased in the market. Around 17:00 CET, the price of Brent showed a decrease of more than two percent and was in the vicinity of 79.9 dollars per barrel.
The price of Brent fell to $79.8 per barrel today. Later, however, she erased part of the losses. Around 17:30 CET, it showed a decrease of about 1.8 percent to 80.2 dollars per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil was down 1.9 percent at $75.9 a barrel at the same time.
Oil prices have been falling recently after a significant rise fueled by fears of the consequences of an armed conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. “The market is now less concerned about the possibility of a supply cut from the Middle East, instead focusing on softening demand,” analysts at ING said today.
The US government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecast on Tuesday that US oil consumption will fall by 300,000 barrels per day this year to 20.1 million barrels per day. In the previous forecast, he expected an increase of 100,000 barrels per day. Unfavorable economic data from China and the Eurozone also contribute to the drop in oil prices.
Oil prices in dollars per barrel (about 159 liters):
| STOCK EXCHANGE | TYPE | CONTRACT | ACTUAL PRICE | PRELIMINARY CONCLUSION |
| London – ICE | Brent | January | 80.17 | 81.61 |
| New York – NYMEX | WTI | December | 75.89 | 77.37 |
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