The price of the April WTI oil futures contract rose by 7.5% and reached $48.4 per barrel.
On February 28, the price of Brent oil fell below $49 per barrel, to a minimum since July 2017. WTI futures price was less than $45 per barrel, this is the minimum value since January 2019.
Oil prices reacted negatively to news about the growing number of people infected with coronavirus and the emergence of new foci of the disease.
A pneumonia outbreak caused by the COVID-19 virus (previously known as 2019-nCoV) was reported in China’s city of Wuhan, a large trade and industrial center with a population of 12 million, in late December.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak in China a global health emergency, characterizing it as an epidemic with multiple foci. Cases of the new coronavirus have also been reported in over 70 other countries, including Russia.
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