London – Oil prices, extending last week´s sharp decrease, slid as the dollar strengthens on eurozone strains and record supplies in the US add further downward pressure.
Meanwhile, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in April shed $1.17 to $49.64 a barrel compared with Friday´s close. Brent North Sea crude for April lost $1.24 to stand at $58.98 in London afternoon deals.
It decreased 4.66 percent and Brent tumbled 2.1 percent during the week to last Friday.
Myrto Sokou, senior research analyst at Sucden brokers, said, “Crude oil prices extended declines (Monday)… as investors remained cautious following the ongoing uncertainty in the eurozone, while the strong US dollar currently weighed on market sentiment.”
She said, “Crude oil inventories continue to remain fairly high, following sharp builds of crude oil stocks in the last few weeks. The continuous large increases of crude inventories verify a possible slowdown of US oil demand.” Workers at three major US oil refineries operated with Royal Dutch Shell went on strike on Saturday in a dispute over safer working conditions, the United Steelworkers (USW) union said.
