FX.co ★ Oil plunges on demand concerns

On Thursday, the oil market entered a correction amid growing demand concerns of market participants.

At the moment of writing, Brent futures contracts for May delivery lost 0.39% to $68.69 per barrel. Yesterday, the contracts climbed by 0.1% and closed at $68.69 per barrel.

Meanwhile, WTI futures for delivery in May dropped by 0.49% to $65.31 per barrel today. On Wednesday, the contracts lost 0.1% and closed at $65.63 per barrel.

The reason for the bear market on Thursday was growing concerns over oil demand in India due to the critical COVID-19 situation. Quarantine restrictions have been introduced across the country, which can have an adverse effect on crude oil demand. In March, India's crude oil imports increased significantly from February. However, imports may well fall amid the reintroduction of lockdowns.

In addition, investors are worried that the OPEC+ crude production is rising, boosted by Iran.

Despite the fact that the commodity market can cope with the current supply, a downwardly revised forecast may weaken the balance.

On top of that, traders are now digesting the US Energy Department report that revealed a decrease in commercial crude oil inventories by 8 million barrels last week, the largest drop since January. Experts had forecast oil stockpiles to fall by 2.3 million barrels.

At the same time, US petroleum inventories increased for the fifth consecutive week. Fuel demand plunged by 10,000 to 8.86 million barrels per day in the past six weeks. Demand for distillate tumbled by 5% to 4.13 million barrels per day.