By Nathalie Voit
Oil prices fell below $100 a barrel on July 5 amid fears of an incoming recession.
After tumbling 8.24% to settle at $99.50 a barrel on end-of-day trading Tuesday, North American oil standard West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is trading at about the same price as of July 7 around 7:30 a.m. ET. The contract has remained below the $100 mark since Tuesday.
International benchmark Brent Crude slipped 9.45% to $102.77 a barrel on July 5. Brent oil futures for September delivery settled at $100.69 a barrel the next day, or 2% lower. The contract is trading at $101.42 as of early Thursday morning.
WTI is down 18.20% over the last month. Meanwhile, the global oil standard Brent crude is off by about 17.50% on a one-month basis, according to data from Intercontinental Exchange.
Reuters reported that both contracts closed at their lowest since April 11 this week. For reference, the price of a barrel of oil was hovering around the $130 to $140 mark back in March.
According to AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross, falling demand for petroleum products has led to lower prices at the pump.
“Domestic gasoline demand dipped recently, which took some of the pressure off of pump prices,” he said, adding that four in five gas stations now sell regular gas for under $5.00 a gallon.
“But July is typically the heaviest month for demand as more Americans hit the road, so this trend of easing prices could be short-lived,” Gross added.
As of July 7, The national average for a regular gallon of gas is $4.75, down from a record high of $5.02 in mid-June.
