Oil Falls to Two-week Low

Oil Falls to Two-week Low

Pumpjacks are seen in the US. REUTERS/Nick Oxford

Oil prices slumped to their lowest in two weeks after official figures showed a surprise jump in US inventories of crude, and rising cases of COVID-19 in Europe, Russia, and some outbreaks of infections in China dented hopes for an economic recovery.

Brent crude dropped $1.58, or 1.9%, to $83.00 a barrel by 0502 GMT, having hit a two-week low of $82.32 earlier and fallen by 2.1% in the previous session.

US oil fell $1.39, or 1.7%, to $81.27 a barrel, also a one-week low, after dropping 2.4% on Wednesday.

Outbreaks of coronavirus infections in China and record deaths and the threat of lockdowns in Russia, along with rising cases in western Europe were putting the brakes on a multi-week rally in oil prices.

"A surge in new cases of COVID-19 threatens to disrupt the recovery in oil demand," ANZ Research commodities strategists Daniel Hynes and Soni Kumari said in a new report on Thursday.

In the US, the economy likely grew at the slowest rate in more than twelve months in the June-September quarter amid a resurgence of COVID-19 infections, amid strained global supply chains and global shortages of goods like autos, Reuters reported.

Crude stocks rose by