Oil Records Fifth Consecutive Weekly Losses

Oil prices fell by about 5% on Friday, to record its fifth consecutive weekly loss, as fears persist over the massive damage to demand for oil.

The drop in the price of the black gold also came with Saudi Arabia didn't reach an agreement with Russia in order to balance the oil market affected by the price war between major producers.

Meanwhile, US companies closed 40 oil exploration rigs in the country this week.

The black gold had risen earlier in the trading benefiting from the intention of governments around the world to pump huge liquidity into the markets, in addition to taking other incentive measures to reduce the economic repercussions caused by the virus that broke out worldwide.

Moreover, leaders of the G20 pledged yesterday to pump more than $ 5 trillion into the global economy to reduce the job and income losses caused by the virus and vowed to do what is necessary to overcome the epidemic.

The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) crude recorded losses for the fifth consecutive week by about 4.1% as lockdown is imposed to most regions on the planet.

The head of the International Energy Agency said that the global demand for oil may drop by about 20 million barrels per day, as there are about 3 billion people in the state of a lockdown.

Upon settlement, the price of US NYMEX crude futures for May delivery fell by 4.8 % to $ 21.51 a barrel.

By the end of trading, the Brent crude for May delivery futures also fell by 5.2 % to $ 24.97 a barrel.