Last week, US oil fell below zero for the first time as investors scrambled to offload it before the expiry of a trading contract, but could not readily find buyers.A key worry for traders is that storage facilities -- particularly in the United States -- cannot cope with the oversupply.
"Concerns surrounding rising global inventories, especially in the US with the coronavirus pandemic weighing on gasoline consumption, are pressuring oil prices," Kim Kwangrae, commodities analyst at Samsung Futures Inc, told Bloomberg News.The continued concerns about storage overshadowed signs that some countries -- including Kuwait and Algeria -- are starting to slash production in line with a major agreement hammered out this month.
Top producers have agreed to reduce output by 10 million barrels a day from May to shore up markets, a deal that marked an end to a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia.