The oil-price rebound has stalled

The post-lockdown rally in the oil price has now stalled, with prices down by 6% since the beginning of September

Oil well pump © Alamy
US output peaked at the start of the year
(Image credit: © Alamy)

Are we heading for another oil-price slump? Benchmark Brent crude futures plunged to an 18-year low of around $19 a barrel in April, while US oil futures briefly went negative. Prices have since climbed out of the lockdown hole, with Brent trading around $45 a barrel over the summer. Yet the rally has now stalled, with prices down by 6% since 1 September to about $42.50 a barrel.

Global demand for oil is wobbly. A second wave of Covid-19 will see more people working from home, while lapsing government support programmes make for a shakier outlook for consumption and global trade. Global crude oil demand was roughly 100 million barrels per day (mbpd) in 2019, but is likely to be closer to 90 mbpd this year, according to forecasts by oil-exporters’ cartel Opec. In Japan, the world’s fourth-biggest crude importer, imports fell by more than 25% on the year in August, says Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in Reuters.

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Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.