Oil experienced its largest weekly drop since March as fears of higher interest rates further facilitated oil’s large selloff. The US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, was trading at $83 per barrel after falling by $8 this week.
This fall erased the price gains made after the announcement of the extension of Saudi Arabia’s and Russia’s output cuts. Since the start of the months-long campaign by the OPEC+ members to raise prices, oil prices have indeed surged by over 30%.
Barclays analyst Amarpreet Singh disagreed with the approach taken by Saudi Arabia and Russia to influence prices. “The recent correction in oil prices has been too rapid and was largely unwarranted in our view,” Singh contended, adding, “The narrative of price-driven demand destruction does not stand in the face of the fact that very little of the recent run-up in oil prices has been passed on to the consumers.”