Oil prices continued the journey downhill for the fourth straight day. The market is concerned with the resurgence of coronavirus and growing output from Libya. Brent decreased by 0.8%, to $42.30 a barrel. WTI fell by 0.6%. Commonwealth Bank has shown concerns saying “We don’t think oil markets are in a position to absorb the around 2% of global supply that OPEC+ are expected to restart from 1 January 2021”.

The week started with a decline in the oil prices after the reports of lower than expected third-quarter economic growth of China. Brent slipped by 0.4%, to $42.78 a barrel. WTI went down and was traded at $40.70 a barrel. The world's second-largest economy just witnessed a minimal swell of 4.9% in its third quarter. According to the reports, Chinese data on crude processing and industrial metals output is disappointing.

OPEC+ fears the second wave of COVID-19. The cartel is particularly troubled due to the jump in Libyan output. On Thursday, the Joint Technical Committee held a virtual meeting to discuss the issues. "In particular, a resurgence of COVID-19 cases across the world and prospects for partial lockdowns in the coming winter months could compound the risks to economic and oil demand recovery," said the panel.

Africa's largest lender by assets, Standard Bank, has been criticised for its lending policies. The recent climate exposure report that it published reveals that it has $4 billion in loans and commitments to the coal, oil and gas sectors on its books. The bank is being called out as 4% of all its lending is to fossil fuel industries. The renewables share only 0.8% of the same.

Seabed Geosolutions has been awarded a survey contract in the Brazilian waters. The company will have to perform a baseline 4D ocean bottom node (OBN) survey and a future 4D monitor OBN survey. The operations will be performed in water depths over 2,200m. "We are delighted to be awarded another high-profile, deepwater OBN project in Brazil", said the company. Seabed is a joint venture between Fugro and CGG.

With ease in restrictions, India saw a rise in fuel demand in September since June. Among all the oil commodities the consumption of diesel, a key link to economic growth, saw a sharp rise of 13.2% since the last few months. Petrol demand also saw an increment by 2.9% and LPG by 5.7% since August.The demand was low in August but with relieving restrictions it might recover in the coming months.

Hurricane Delta and the Norwegian Crisis lead to a 1% fall in the oil price. The Brent crude fell 41 cents to $42.44 a barrel and WTI was down by 42 cents to $40.18. Libya’s’ increased production & US elections are expected to disrupt the market more. Amidst this, hope came from OPEC+, as they agreed to reduce oil output by 7.7 million BPD in order to rebalance the market.

The low demand, pandemic, and increased supply from OPEC lead to more than a 5% downfall in oil prices. Brent Crude saw a down of 4.5% to $40.4 a barrel, while U.S WTI crude dropped by 5.3% to $38.13.According to a recent report from Standard Chartered Analysts the global demand is estimated to fall 9.03 million bpd in 2020 and recover by 5.57 million bpd in 2021.

Oil prices remained mixed in the international market on Friday, after Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar announced the Libyan oil exports blockade would be lifted for one month. Brent crude slipped 17 cents to $43.13. US WTI gained 6 cents to $41.03. The benchmarks are still on track for weekly gains after Hurricane Sally cut U.S. production, Saudi Arabia pressed for adherence to production quotas and banks predicted a supply deficit.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday. Brent crude settled at $42.22 a barrel, up 4.2%. U.S. WTI crude rose 4.9% at $40.16 a barrel. Prices jumped more than 4%, following a drawdown in U.S. crude and gasoline inventories as Hurricane Sally forced a swath of U.S. offshore production to shut. Roughly 500,000 bpd of offshore crude oil production was taken offline in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico due to the Hurricane.

Fugro has secured a fourth consecutive contract from Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to provide integrated survey services. Under the contract, Fugro will provide infield developments on the east and west coasts of India. The contract also includes rig positioning, current profile measurements and wellhead searches. Fugro will carry out the services using multibeam bathymetric, shallow seismic profiling, magnetometry and 2D ultra-high resolution.

Acoustic Data has been contracted to deploy its SonicGauge Wireless Monitoring System in a gas field project in North-Africa. The technology will deliver real-time surface readout of downhole pressure and temperature on post-frac well tests via acoustic telemetry at the project which will enable live analysis. This will allow the subsurface teams to make fast and informed decisions regarding the field development, reducing standby time and the associated operating expenditure.

Ithaca Energy has awarded a five-year integrated services contract to oilfield services provider Petrofac. According to the contract, Petrofac will integrate operations, as well as provide maintenance, engineering and construction services for Ithaca’s North Sea assets. Petrofac will also provide onshore and offshore technical support across all of the Ithaca’s North Sea operated asset base. Ithaca Energy has working interests in 18 offshore producing fields in the UK North Sea.

Well-Safe Solutions has acquired the harsh-environment jack-up West Epsilon from deepwater drilling contractor Seadrill. Well-Safe Solutions noted that the rig will be refurbished and renamed ‘Well-Safe Protector’. Operations on the upgrade of the company’s first rig Well-Safe Guardian were paused earlier this year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, operations are restarting, and the company expects to deploy both Guardian and Protector early next year.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday. Brent crude rose 77 cents, to $41.30 a barrel, while U.S. WTI crude added 85 cents, to $39.13. Both contracts rose by more than 2% as 2%, as a hurricane closed U.S. offshore oil and gas production and U.S. crude inventories decreased. The storm-related shutdowns may help reduce stockpiles although refineries were also closed, cutting demand.

The contractor has downplayed an incident that took place during work to dismantle what’s left of the Buchan Alpha oil rig. A video appears to show a worker attempting to run to safety when the structure he’s cutting into with a blowtorch, in waters off Shetland, becomes detached and off-balance. No one was injured and the Health and Safety Executive has not been involved.

More than one-fifth of U.S. offshore oil production and exporting ports were shut in lieu of Hurricane Sally which will make landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Sally was upgraded to a Category 2 hurricane and could strengthen further before making landfall late on Tuesday. 21% of offshore crude oil production and 25% of natural gas output were shut in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Oil prices edged lower on Tuesday. Brent crude was down 4 cents, at $39.57 a barrel, while U.S. WTI crude was down 2 cents, at $37.24 a barrel. Prices were affected amid worries over a slow recovery in global fuel demand and rising coronavirus cases across the globe. World oil demand is expected to tumble by 9.46 million barrels per day this year.