Oil prices have fallen once again due to uncertainties associated with the rise in coronavirus rates but are expected to go back up owing to the recent news regarding the coronavirus vaccine.
oil rig
The price of Brent crude oil dropped 0.83% and West Texas Intermediate by 1.17% on Friday following a spike in coronavirus rates the week before after a predicted surge of 9%.
Oil inventory rose by 4.3 million owing to US government pressure after a weekly loss of just under a million was predicted by analysts.
The threat of another lockdown caused oil prices to drop by as much as 4% in Europe earlier this month on top of the fact that general demand for fossil fuels is at an all-time low owing to the pandemic.
Many businesses have resorted to selling their shares in fields in order to cut their losses as Covid seems to be here to stay going into the new year.
A general rise in more renewable forms of energy owing to the damage to fossil fuel supply chains also appears to have damaged the industry more than could be predicted.
The price of oil in the US dropped below zero for the first time in history early on in this crisis, and the industry has been slowly recovering since.
Coronavirus cases have hit record levels, and earlier this week, worldwide deaths surpassed 5 million.
Many governments are set to integreate greater use of renewable energies into their post-pandemic recoveries owing to the pollutant effects of the fossil fuel industry and the imminent threat of climate change.
The recent news of a vaccine has provided hope that the pandemic may be over soon, resulting in promising predictions as demand for oil is expected to increase.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday, however, that the oil industry is unlikely to see any boost from the effects of the vaccine well into 2021.
Analysts say tougher restrictions on mobility to deal with sky-rocketing coronavirus cases mean the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies may hesitate to implement a planned loosening of output curbs agreed in a deal earlier this year.
It is currently unknown what timeframe the major powers of the world are looking for inoculation programmes to commence.
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