Oil Price

Oil prices jumped about 6% on Wednesday after a ship ran aground in the Suez Canal, and worries that the incident could tie up crude shipments gave prices a boost after a slide over the last week. The situation is affecting the connections of other ships that carry oil and may now have to look for alternative routes, reveals "Bloomberg" this Wednesday, March 24th.

The Evergreen container with 400 meters in length and 220 thousand tons was stranded when making the connection between China and the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, worthless the several attempts to get it afloat again.

Following a decrease in oil demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Exxon Mobil announced a global cut of its workforce by 15%. Around 14,000 jobs worldwide could be affected, including contractors.

Prior to the pandemic, Chief Executive Darren Woods pursued an ambitious spending plan to boost oil output in the belief a growing global middle class would demand more of its products.

Oil producers have started paying buyers to take the oil out of their hands, as storage capacity is running low. A worldwide overproduction of oil is currently recorded due to a decline in demand following the spread of the coronavirus.

The lowest recorded price for a barrel (around 159 liters) of West Texas Intermediate oil was recorded at minus $37.63.