Crude oil prices fell during Tuesday's trading for the second consecutive day, coinciding with ongoing concerns about economic forecasts and global economic growth this year, which in turn may weaken global demand for crude oil, due to the possibility of major central banks continuing to raise interest rates and tighten monetary policy.

On the trading front today, Brent crude spot contracts recorded a decrease of 0.74% and stood at about $82.16 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude spot contracts rose by 0.80% to reach $78.07 per barrel.

Crude oil prices declined during today's trading due to increasing concerns about weak global demand for crude oil this year amid fears of slowing global economic growth because of major central banks continuing to tighten monetary policy to control rising inflation.

In this context, Bank of England Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent said in a press statement today, Tuesday, that if coming inflation shocks are seen, the Bank of England will tighten monetary policy faster, and that if the Bank of England started raising interest rates six months ago, it might have reduced the inflation peak by a maximum of half a percentage point. Also, Japanese Finance Minister Suzuki spoke today, Tuesday, about the Bank of Japan's monetary policy, saying that there may be some movements in Japan’s monetary policy in the future, which may pose different challenges to keeping debt issuance stable. This has heightened concerns about major central banks continuing monetary tightening, which could harm global growth.

Why did oil prices decline at the beginning of the weekly trading?

On the other hand, oil prices still receive support that prevents their collapse from OPEC+ alliance’s crude oil production cuts, as the additional supply cuts decided by the OPEC+ alliance, which includes the member countries of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, including Russia, are scheduled to come into effect starting from May and may lead to a supply shortage in the markets.

Regarding other energy sources apart from crude oil prices, gasoline contracts fell during today's trading by 0.24% to record $2.6038 per gallon. Meanwhile, natural gas contracts dropped and recorded $2.417 per million British thermal units. However, heating oil contracts declined by 0.69% and recorded about $2.5050.