Oil prices fell slightly on Wednesday as traders feared that the International Monetary Fund’s decision to reduce the global economic outlook for 2018 and 2019 would reduce demand for oil and its products.
In the previous session, oil prices rose amid fears of a hurricane flowing into the oil-rich Gulf Coast of the Gulf. Where about 40 percent of the daily production of crude oil from offshore US ports in the Gulf of Mexico stopped on Tuesday because of the evacuation of two workers and the shutdown of platforms before Hurricane Michael.
Oil prices, including Anadarko Petroleum, BHP Billiton and Chevron, have since Monday evacuated staff from 75 platforms as the storm cuts through the Gulf toward Florida’s land. According to forecasts of various air services, Michael could deliver the strongest blow in at least a decade in Panhandle, a 200-mile strip in northwest Florida, home to the country’s largest crude oil and natural gas fields. Banhandle has already drawn direct results from Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and Hurricane Dennis in 2005.
In its future World Economic Outlook, the IMF said it now forecasts growth of 3.7 percent, down from the 3.9 percent forecast in July. It was the first reduction since July 2016.
Data from the US Petroleum Institute and the US Energy Information Administration on crude stocks will be delayed by one day this week due to the US President’s holiday in Columbus.
