English• 10% lost in one week
Alina Vasiescu
The price of crude oil continued to decrease on U.S. markets on Friday closing the week with the most substantial decline since January amid fears that the global recession will cause energy consumption to decrease. Concurrently, the appreciation of the USD led to a decrease in the demand for raw materials, as investors preferred to focus on this currency.
Benchmark crude oil for August delivery dropped 52 UScents (0.9%) on the New York Mercantile Exchange to 59.89 USD/barrel, this being the lowest closing price since 19 May. Last week, the oil price lost 10% compared to the previous week and 59% compared to the historical high logged in July 2008 (147.27 USD/barrel).
Speculations on the oil markets point to the idea that oil consumption in the U.S. - the world"s largest energy consumer - is going to decrease and therefore prices could decrease even further, to as low as 55 USD/barrel in the near future. Specialists say there are no signs that the economy is going to recover rapidly, so the market is left without stimuli.
Also last Friday, benchmark gasoline for August delivery lost 1.33 UScents (0.8%) reaching 1.6505 USD/gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchanges.
Euro
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