Oil prices are falling, for how long?

In recent days, we have been observing a significant drop in crude oil prices. This morning, the price was $69 per barrel of Brent crude. It is expected that we will remain at these levels because the economic forecasts are not good. This was stated on March 6 in the BNT morning programme "The Day Begins" by Svetoslav Benchev, Chairman of the Bulgarian Petroleum and Gas Association.

"The stock markets have stopped reacting to Trump's statements because one day they are one thing, and the next day they are another. They are rather reacting to what is happening in the market. And what happened – ultimately, tariffs were imposed on Canada, Mexico, and China, and as a result, we all expect the economy to perform worse. Because the economy is globalized, there will be less demand for oil. For this reason, we have been observing a significant drop in crude oil prices in recent days. We are waiting to see how this trade war will affect the economy. We are also waiting to see what OPEC will do because they were supposed to increase production, but maybe they won't. In this sense, the Saudi energy minister spoke yesterday, saying that they will wait and see what the market decides regarding whether to increase production or not. We need to see how far this drop in crude oil prices will go because, below a certain value, this may jeopardize the production of US shale oil," noted Benchev.

The forecast of the Chairman of the Bulgarian Petroleum and Gas Association is that these crude oil prices will remain stable.

"The war in the Middle East has long been in the barrel price. What will influence the market more is if Trump imposes sanctions on Iran, which is a major producer. If he does, this might slightly raise the price of oil. Recently, the market has also been affected by what will happen with the war in Ukraine," said Benchev.

He explained that Bulgaria exports fuels to Ukraine, but in quantities much smaller than what we used to export. According to him, Turkey and Poland also export, but with state support.

"We did not receive support from the state, we continue to export, but in small quantities."