West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil barrels fell by 20% and is at 1999 prices

Volatility returns to the oil market this week, despite the recent OPEC agreement to stabilize prices. The West Texas barrel of oil, a benchmark in the United States, has plunged 20% on Monday to $15 per unit. These prices have not been seen in the markets since 1999.   

Despite the plans of the president Donald Trump, to reopen the American economy in the June futures market, the crude of Texas falls more than 5%, to 23.62 dollars, according to the Efe agency. In the case of Europe, the Brent barrel of reference in Europe and the Middle East loses 2.49% and remains at 27.38 dollars. 

The fall in demand for this raw material due to the coronavirus and Saudi Arabia's decision in early April to increase oil production to record levels have been the breeding ground for a collapse in prices to the lowest levels in 20 years. In addition, the market has failed to stabilize in recent weeks and every week there is an abrupt drop in prices.

Fears that excess production will outstrip oil storage capacity are already beginning to play havoc with producers and investors. The market has been flooded with a product that has suffered from brutal demand as a result of quarantines and border closures. One third of humanity is now confined by the coronavirus.   

Texas oil, delivered in May, has collapsed by 21% this morning, falling to $14.47. In addition to the evolution of crude oil prices, investors will also be awaiting the publication of the quarterly results of the United States and the trade balance of the Eurozone. For his part, Trump has announced meetings with Texas producers, who are being heavily affected by the coronavirus crisis in the face of the brutal fall in prices.   

So far, 671,525 people in the United States have been infected by the coronavirus, 33,286 have died and 56,236 have recovered, according to data from Johns Hopkins University collected by the Efe agency.   

Last week, the International Energy Agency (IEA) stated that 2020 was the worst year in the history of oil and referred to this month as "Black April". The agency warned that excess supply could test the world's capacity to store crude, with the risk that saturation in some fields would force production to stop.   

It is expected that the return to a relative normality, at least in terms of economic activity, will help crude prices around the world, especially if they coincide in time with the cuts agreed last week by OPEC and its partners. Analysts also point to the need for these cuts to be complemented by those of other non-OPEC producing countries, especially the United States.