Ovunc Kutlu
31 January 2020•Update: 31 January 2020
ANKARA
Brent crude was steady on Friday, as global oil demand remains low with the coronavirus outbreak while the oil output decline in Libya countered these concerns.
The international benchmark was trading at $58.08 per barrel at 0718 GMT on Friday for a 0.09% decline after closing Thursday at $58.13 a barrel.
American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI), on the other hand, was at $52.93 a barrel at the same time for a 0.09% gain after ending the previous session at $52.88 per barrel.
The death toll in China from the coronavirus outbreak has climbed to 213, and 43 people have died in the last 24 hours, according to the country's National Health Commission on Friday.
While there are some 9,692 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the coronavirus, also known as 2019-nCoV, a total of 15,238 people are suspected of being infected with the virus.
A World Health Organization’s (WHO) emergency panel on Thursday declared the deadly coronavirus an emergency of international concern.
The U.S.' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday that it recorded its first case of a person-to-person transmission of the new coronavirus.
The spread of the virus raises worries that global oil demand could be low in the first quarter of 2020, creating a downward pressure on oil prices.
On the supply side, the shutdown of five oil-exporting ports in Libya has brought the country to the brink of a complete production shutdown.
Libya's National Oil Corporation Chairman Mustafa Sanalla said earlier this week that his country's oil production has fallen to 262,000 barrels per day (bpd) and could soon decline to as low as 72,000 bpd.
The country that has Africa's most proven oil reserves was pumping 1.14 million bpd of crude oil in December 2019 based on secondary sources, according to OPEC's Monthly Oil Market Report for January.
