Oil prices decline amid demand concerns

Oil prices continued their downward momentum on Tuesday as demand concerns remained amid growing COVID-19 cases, even as US lawmakers and the White House were said to be nearing an agreement on a new stimulus package to revive the country’s economy.

Brent crude was trading down 0.4% at $42.26 a barrel, at 8.50 am Makkah time. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 0.6% to $40.35 a barrel.

Commodities markets had edged up in earlier today, Sept. 29, as Democratic lawmakers unveiled a new $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, a number of countries are witnessing the second wave of coronavirus infections, and more than 1 million people are reported to have died of COVID-19 as of Tuesday.

In Japan, data from Ministry of Finance showed that the country’s imports of crude oil in August fell more than 25% from the previous year.

The US inventories data will be released later today by American Petroleum Institute and by the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.