Oil Prices Soar After Gloomy Last Week

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Oil prices soared, following a sharp decline in the previous week amid concerns over demand.

24, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for October delivery added 3.5 dollars, or 5.6 percent, to settle at 65.64 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude for October settlement rose 3.57 dollars, or 5.5 percent, to close at 68.75 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

"Oil prices started the new week with significant gains, after a very dismal week that saw Brent and WTI drop 8 percent and 9 percent, respectively, their most substantial weekly losses in nearly ten months," said Carsten Fritsch, energy analyst. at Commerzbank Research.

For the week ended Friday, benchmark US crude fell 8.9 percent, while Brent slumped 7.7 percent.

"We consider this price weakness excessive and believe it has more to do with the psychology of market participants than with a decline in fundamental data," Fritsch said.

He added that in the coming weeks it would be revealed whether travel restrictions were re-imposed in some Asia-Pacific countries.

"It's really going to have an impact on fuel demand as last week's price performance showed," he explained.