International Oil Prices Plunge Again... WTI Down 13% to $11 per Barrel

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] International oil prices are showing a downward trend once again. The June delivery of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil in the United States continued its sharp decline following a 25% drop the previous day.

On the 28th, as of 14:00 Korean time in the Asian market, the June WTI delivery fell 13.1%, trading at $11.11 per barrel. During the session, WTI dropped as much as 16.7%, hitting $10.64. Previously, WTI closed at $12.78 per barrel, down $4.16 (24.6%) the day before.

International oil prices are showing extremely unstable movements amid concerns that they might enter negative territory again. Earlier, the May WTI delivery once plunged to an unprecedented -$40 per barrel during the session. This means a situation where sellers would have to pay buyers to take the oil.

The market is worried about a global "tank top" situation. Due to the sharp decline in oil demand caused by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), oil is currently oversupplied. The market has been storing the excess oil in storage facilities, but concerns are growing that these facilities may soon reach their limits. "Tank top" refers to a situation where oil inventories increase to the point that storage tanks can no longer hold any more oil.

Moreover, the oil market is experiencing significant volatility as the world's largest oil exchange-traded fund (ETF), the "US Oil Fund," has decided to sell off all of its near-month June contracts over four days.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.