Oil prices jump 4% after biggest one-day fall since 1991

PanARMENIAN.Net - Oil prices rose by more than $1 on Tuesday, March 10 after a price war by top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia sparked the biggest daily rout since the 1991 Gulf War, but investors saw little chance of a quick price recovery as the coronavirus cuts demand, Reuters reports.

Saudi Arabia and Russia both said they would raise production at the weekend after a three-year pact between them and other major oil producers to limit supply fell apart on Friday.

Brent crude futures rose $1.41, or 4.1%, to $35.77 a barrel by 0034 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained $1.25, or 4%, to $32.38 a barrel following declines of nearly 25 percent on Monday.

Both benchmarks dropped to their lowest since February 2016 in the previous session and recorded their biggest one-day percentage declines since Jan. 17, 1991, when oil prices fell at the outset of the U.S. Gulf War.

Trading volumes in the front-month for both contracts hit record highs in the previous session.

But analysts do not expect oil prices to regain the nearly 25% slump from Friday’s close as the coronavirus outbreak cuts demand.