UK oil majors BP and Shell are under pressure after the price of Brent crude oil tumbled towards the $70 mark following an Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decision not to cut production.
The 12-country oil collective had been considering intervening in the global oil market in a bid to stop the downward slide of oil prices, which had already fallen by some 30% since June. However, with OPEC having yesterday opted to maintain supply at current levels wth the aim of "restoring market equilibrium", the price of Brent oil plummeting another 8% towards the $70 per barrel mark. Brent was trading as low as $71 after the OPEC announcement on Thursday afternoon, having been as high as $114 just five months ago, and continued to touch four-year lows this morning. WTI crude, ...
To continue reading this article...
Join Investment Week for free
- Unlimited access to real-time news, analysis and opinion from the investment industry, including the Sustainable Hub covering fund news from the ESG space
- Get ahead of regulatory and technological changes affecting fund management
- Important and breaking news stories selected by the editors delivered straight to your inbox each day
- Weekly members-only newsletter with exclusive opinion pieces from leading industry experts
- Be the first to hear about our extensive events schedule and awards programmes