Oil price drops again to US$31, fuel prices to reduce today

Few days after bouncing back from its sharp decline in nearly two decades, oil prices have gone down once again today.

This was after a Saudi-Russian price war and an equities meltdown sparked by the coronavirus pandemic saw their biggest weekly losses in more than a decade.

The Brent global benchmark was down 6% at $31.88 a barrel.

Last week's price war began after Saudi Arabia and other members of the OPEC oil cartel pushed for an output cut to combat the impact of the virus outbreak.

But Moscow, the world's second-biggest oil producer, refused prompting Riyadh to drive through massive price cuts and pledge to boost production.

The COVID-19 outbreak added to downward pressure as it throttled global equities, with growing concerns over a potential worldwide recession and escalating travel restrictions prompting a crash in demand forecasts.

Meanwhile, fuel prices at the pumps are expected to go down by about 10% today.

The Institute for Energy Security (IES) had forecast between 5% and 8% price reduction in the price of fuel in the second pricing-window of March 2020.

“Taking into consideration the 18.97% plummeting in prices of Crude oil, coupled with the 15.81% and 19.51% considerable crushing in the prices of Gasoil and Gasoline respectively on the international market; the Institute for Energy Security (IES) foresees prices of fuel on the local market falling by 5% to 8% in the second Pricing-window for March 2020”, the IES said in a statement.