WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil prices fell for a second straight session on Thursday as the coronavirus epidemic showed no signs of slowing, feeding worries about fuel demand.
Benchmark Brent crude slumped 5.6 percent to $33.77 a barrel, after having fallen nearly 4 percent on Wednesday. U.S. crude futures were down 5.5 percent at $31.22, after having dropped 4 percent the previous day.
The two benchmarks are down about 50 percent from their January highs amid coronavirus concerns and worries about a global oil price war.
Concerns over the economic impact of the coronavirus intensified after U.S. President Donald Trump banned travel from most of Europe to the United States for 30 days.
Italy shut all stores except for pharmacies and food shops in a desperate bid to halt the fast-spreading virus that has killed 827 in the country in just over two weeks.
Elsewhere in Germany, some 56 percent of German companies are suffering negative effects from the coronavirus epidemic, Munich's Ifo institute said today.
Trump's address on the coronavirus also failed to quell concerns about the economic impact of the outbreak.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the coronavirus as a global pandemic after the virus spread to 114 countries, resulting in the deaths of more than 4,500 people worldwide.
The slump in oil is being compounded by the threat of a flood of cheap supply as the United Arab Emirates followed Saudi Arabia in promising to raise oil output to a record high in April.
The extra supply that is equivalent to 3.6 percent of global supplies will flood the market at a time when global fuel demand in 2020 is forecast to contract for the first time in almost a decade.
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