Slump in Oil Prices Due to Shortfall in Demand in India

Oil prices

With India reeling under the pressure of another wave of pandemic cases, India reduced the recovery period for oil demand thereby, upsetting the optimistic outlook for a bounce-back in consumption levels of oil in China and the developed countries. Brent Crude futures’ prediction for July fell by 0.7% to $ 66.28/barrel at 06:20 AM GMT.

State–level restrictions in India, aimed at holding the tide of infections, led to a fall in the sales figures for fuels in the world’s third-largest economy. A K Singh, Head of Marketing Bharat Petroleum Corp said, “Overall fuel demand is down by 7% from pre – COVID level of April 2019.” He also, pointed out that India’s recovery to pre – COVID levels were nearly achieved in March, this year.

As the number of COVID cases is on the rise at a perilous rate, a further slump in demand for fuels is predicted, for India, due to further planned restrictions.