Oil prices fell for the third session on Wednesday with US crude futures tumbling to a 17-year low as travel and social lockdowns sparked by the coronavirus knocked the outlook for demand.
US crude was down $1.51 cents, or 5.6 per cent, at $25.44 per barrel by 1135 GMT, having earlier fallen to $25.06, its lowest since late April 2003.
The last time oil was trading that low, the United States had invaded Iraq and China had only begun its rise as a major global economic power that propelled the world’s oil consumption to record highs in subsequent years.
Brent crude was trading down 95 cents, or 3.31 per cent, at $27.78 a barrel, after dropping to $27.56, its lowest since early 2016. Global oil, gas producers slash spending after crude price rout. “The oil demand collapse from the spreading coronavirus looks increasingly sharp,” Goldman Sachs said.