Brent oil stays near one-month low on falling US demand

Brent prices trade at lowest since March 4 as investors worry about fading prospects of OPEC and non-OPEC output freeze and fresh signs of falling US demand.

At the time of writing, Brent oil was trading 10 cents or 0.27% lower on the day around $37.60/barrel. Prices hit a low of $37.24 levels yesterday. Across the pond, WTI oil was down 6 cents or 0.17% at $35.64/barrel.

US Energy Information Administration data released yesterday showed US gasoline demand fell in January for the first time in 14 months. This is bad news as far as demand for oil is concerned and comes at a time when prospects of a joint OPEC and non-OPEC measures are falling.

Furthermore, OPEC governor of Kuwait said on Tuesday that an agreement at the Doha meeting could freeze production at February levels or an average of January and February. This means the market will still be oversupplied by at least 2 million barrels per day.

Traders now await US inventory data released by American Petroleum Institute (API) every Tuesday.

Brent Technical Levels

Prices currently trade around $37.54. The immediate hurdle is noted at $38.30 (Mar 15 low) above which prices could target $38.74 (Mar 29 low). On the other hand, a break below 37.24 (daily low) would open doors for a drop to $36.63 (50-DMA).