Crude oil expanded its gains on Thursday amid signals coming from oil production cuts by major oil producers, to minimize the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brent crude was 10% up, trading at $22.14 a barrel earlier on Thursday, after surging more than 5% on Wednesday.
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As oil demand plunges, Russia, OPEC, and other oil producers, a group, referred to as OPEC+, are set to cut oil production by a record 9.7 million barrels per day from May 1.
Yesterday, in the world’s largest economy (America), crude inventories climbed up by 15 million barrels from the week of April 17 to 518.6 million barrels, near a record of 535 million barrels set in 2017.
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Crude oil Inventories are expected to keep climbing up due to refineries cutting oil production, and the collapse in demand for energy commodities around the world.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been spreading around the world at an alarming pace; it has infected more than 2.5 million individuals and killed over 150,000 people, forcing governments to impose lockdowns, and close factories, thereby reducing oil demand.