Brent oil is below $60 for the first time since January

Brent crude fell below $60 on Wednesday, June 5, for the first time since the end of January. In April, Brent briefly stood at around $75 a barrel.

• The immediate cause was an unexpected and unanticipated rise in U.S. inventories – by 3.5 million barrels at once according to API calculations and by 6.8 million barrels according to the EIA methodology. Stocks are at their highest in almost two years.
• The main macroeconomic factor in the decline in oil prices remains the trade war between the US and China. Today, the IMF estimated the losses from it at $455 billion, or 0.3% of world GDP.
• The day before, the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, said that it is unprofitable for Russia to reduce production under the current conditions, because the retired volumes will still be replaced by shale production in the United States.

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