Oil prices settled at their lowest level in more than a week on Tuesday, as hope for a coordinated output freeze among major crude producing nations continued to fade.
April West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 84 cents, or 2.3%, to settle at $36.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It saw its lowest settlement since March 4, after losing 3.4% on Monday.
May Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell 79 cents, or 2%, to $38.74 a barrel.
WTI prices could “at least see a retesting” of the $30 level in the short term, according to Robbie Fraser, commodity analyst at Schneider Electic. “Some time in the $20s isn’t guaranteed but certainly wouldn’t be too surprising at this point.”
The market will get updates on U.S. oil inventories from the American Petroleum Institute while the closely watched report from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday.
April natural gas ended at $1.851 per million British thermal units, up 3.2 cents, or 1.8%, but prices are still down roughly 21% year to date.
