The fall in oil prices on the global market gained momentum already on Monday. The price of a futures contract for delivery of so-called Brent oil next month fell by 2.1 percent to 71.62 dollars per barrel.
In Tuesday's trading, the decline continued to around 70.50 dollars per barrel.
The oil price is thus – with the exception of a few days in September last year – at its lowest level in four years.
According to Bjarne Schieldrop, chief analyst for commodities at the major bank SEB, the price drop is explained by the oil cartel Opec, together with other major oil-producing countries such as Russia, having decided to increase their oil production.
In a first step, a production increase of 138,000 barrels per day is planned for April.
According to Schieldrop, this follows a meeting where representatives of Russia, the USA, and Saudi Arabia met in the Saudi capital Riyadh to discuss the Ukraine war and energy policy.
"Putin wants a favorable deal on Ukraine, MBS may want tougher measures against Iran, while Trump, among other things, wants lower oil prices," writes Schieldrop in a market commentary.
MBS is an abbreviation for the Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman.
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