Brent crude oil price falls below $32 per barrel

09:59, 12 January 2016

LONDON. KAZINFORM - The price of Brent crude futures contract for February delivery in the course of trading on the London Stock Exchange (ICE) fell by more than 5% to $31.94 per barrel. The dollar rose by 1.7% to around 76 rubles, the euro rose by 2.8% to 82.8 rubles. Since the beginning of 2016 Brent price has fallen 12.5%. The Russian market reacts to a sharp drop in prices of crude oil during the New Year's holidays.

A significant acceleration of the decline in oil prices happened on January 6 against the decision of the state-owned Saudi Aramco to increase the prices for basic grades of oil for its customers in Europe. Thus, the cost of one barrel for the countries of northwestern Europe decreased by $0.6 and $0.2 for the countries of the Mediterranean region. However, the price of a barrel of Extra Light oil fell by $0.5 for the US customers. "The news that Saudi Arabia has reduced the price of oil for Europe caused a new wave of pressure on the oil market, and therefore the Brent price on Thursday was close to $32 per barrel," VTB Capital analyst Maxim Korovin said. At the same time, oil prices will remain low for a longer period, Tom Levinson at Sberbank CIB said. "The resumed decline of Brent price, which now has significantly descended below the minimum value of 2008, has a strong pressure on the ruble," he said, TASS reports.
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