Crude oil prices slipped as markets across the globe were more cautious than optimistic on Monday following the recent firing of a longstanding Saudi Arabian oil minister and despite waning fears of the Canadian wildfire aftermath, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
June West Texas Intermediate crude plunged $1.22, or 2.7%, to end trade at $43.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
July Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell $1.74, or 3.8%, to settle at $43.63 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
“The sacking of Saudi’s Ali al-Naimi as head of the country’s oil ministry may be a reason why oil prices have failed to maintain their early advance,” said Fawad Razaqzada, technical analyst at Forex.com and City Index, in a note.
“Al-Naimi’s successor, Khalid al-Falih, the former head of the state-owned Aramco, is largely expected to follow the strategy of protecting the nation’s market share. This has further reduced the likelihood of an oil-freeze deal with other large non-OPEC producers,” he said.
Canadian officials toured the charred community of Fort McMurray in Alberta province on Monday, getting their first glimpse at the devastation caused by an out-of-control wildfire. Spirits were lifted with the discovery that only 2,400 structures had burned while almost 90% or 25,000 buildings were saved, according to a Reuters report.
The Alberta Agriculture and Forestry department said the fire is not contained and continues to spread, according to a CNN report.
Meanwhile, natural gas prices fell on Monday as well. June contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange lost 0.3 cents to settle at $2.098 per million British thermal units.