Oil prices on shaky ground amid global financial market worries

SINGAPORE: Oil prices remained on shaky ground on Tuesday after sliding by 3 per cent the previous day, pressured by weakness in global stock markets and doubts that planned supply cuts led by producer club OPEC will be enough to rein in oversupply.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $51 per barrel at 0028 GMT, unchanged from their last close.

International Brent crude oil futures had yet to trade.


Crude prices dropped by 3 per cent the session before amid ongoing weakness in global stock markets and concerns that slowing oil demand-growth could erode supply cuts announced last week by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and some non-OPEC producers including Russia.

Crude prices are down around a third since early October amid the financial market slump and an emerging oil supply overhang.

"There remains a lot of uncertainty if the production cut is thick enough to make a significant dent in global supply," said Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia-Pacific at futures brokerage Oanda in Singapore.

"The general risk-off tone in global markets and the stronger dollar ... are contributing to the selling pressure."

The OPEC-led group of oil producers last Friday announced a supply cut of 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in crude oil supply from January, measured against October 2018 output levels.