After plunging over 4% to decline to slip below $63 a barrel on Monday, international oil prices partially recovered later in the day. At 7:20 pm (09:50 am EST) on Monday, global crude benchmark Brent was trading 1.52% lower at $64.58 a barrel.
The US West Texas Intermediate, which is the American oil benchmark, was trading 1.5% lower at $60.97 per barrel, when the US equity markets also opened for trade.
The prices have seen a downward trend since Apr. 2, 2025 and had continued to decline over the past three sessions. The fresh slide on Monday was due to Saudi Arabia's biggest cut in four years to its flagship oil price.
The plunge in the recent days is threatening the coffers of oil-producing nations that need far higher prices to meet their budgets. Parallelly, this move is also set to take some sting out of inflationary pressures coming from Donald Trump's tariffs on trade partners.
Oil major BP Plc's shares have declined as much as 20% in three trading sessions while companies across the US shale patch have been battered, according to Bloomberg.
Over the weekend, Saudi Arabia slashed the price of its key Arab Light crude to Asia, the top market, by the most since 2022. This move adds supply concerns to a deteriorating demand outlook. The price move was bigger than traders expected, and came following a surprise output hike from Saudi Arabia-led OPEC+ last week.
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