US crude oil drops below $15 a barrel

Tokyo: US crude oil plunged about 20 per cent to below $15 per barrel on Monday, hitting the lowest level in more than two decades as the COVID-19 pandemic cast a shadow of uncertainty over the global market.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US oil price benchmark, fell as much as 21 per cent to $14.47 per barrel in early Asian trading. It later pared some of those losses with a nearly 16 per cent down to $15.23 a barrel.
The WTI benchmark has lost about two-thirds of its value since the start of this year.
International benchmark Brent crude on Monday dropped 4.2 per cent to $26.91 a barrel.
The oil price has been continuously falling in the past weeks as the coronavirus outbreak worldwide has frozen the global demand for the commodity and Opec countries failed to reach a production cut deal with non-Opec members.
Although the two sides later agreed to reduce about 10 per cent of global oil supply, investors remain unsure whether the cut could offset the plummeting demand as many cities are locked down and trade has been largely restricted to contain the virus's spread.
With the slowdown of COVID-19 cases in some European countries including Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic, the authorities have considered gradually withdrawing the restriction measures.