By Gina Lee
Oil was mixed on Wednesday morning in Asia as the black liquid continues a difficult recovery from its stunning collapse on Monday.
Futures trading struggled during its last few sessions ever since WTI futures plunged to -$37.63 for the first time in trading history on Monday. Brent Oil Futures slid 3.36% to $ 18.95 by 9:57 PM ET (2:57 AM GMT) whilst WTI Futures jumped 12.10% to $12.97.
During the previous session, the immediate contract for Brent traded at the biggest discount to the following month in data since 2008, whilst trading in WTI’s June contract was halted three times to stabilize prices.
OPEC+ ministers had an unscheduled emergency conference call overnight to discuss the collapse. Although the coalition did not announce new policy measures beyond the 10-million-barrel production cut, some producers led by Saudi Arabia are considering implementing the cuts ahead of scheduled May 1 start date.
U.S. President Donald Trump also said overnight that his administration is working on a plan to make money available to the oil industry to prevent the loss of jobs.
But the industry continued its ongoing battle with its supply glut as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to shrink demand.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) announced another huge 13.226-million-barrel build in U.S. crude oil stockpiles for the week ending April 17.
Oil is a “dangerous market to trade in right now,” warned Pierre Andurand, founder of Andurand Capital Management LLP, in a Bloomberg interview.
The market needs oil production to fall immediately for prices to recover, he added.
