Oil price falls below $100 as enormous earthquake hits Japan

Oil price falls below $100 as enormous earthquake hits Japan

 

Oil price fell below $100 per barrel for the first time this month after today's enormous earthquake stroke off Japan's northeast coast creating a 10-metre tsunami that shut down dozens of plants in the world's third-largest oil consumer.

The price of U.S. crude fell by $3 to as low as $99.01 a barrel, while brent crude fell $2.31 to $113.12 a barrell.

'This natural disaster could result in another sharp rise in risk aversion on markets and a continuation of yesterday's correction on commodity markets,' said Commerzbank.

Oil price: Traders fear protests in Saudi Arabia could hamper oil production

 

Traders are also keeping an eye on the ongoing unrest in Lybia and protests in Saudi Arabia, looking for signs they could escalate and potentially hamper production in the world's biggest oil exporter. Illegal demonstrations were supposed to take place today but there were no signs of rally. 

On Thursday, Saudi police attacked a protest by minority Shiites in the eastern city of Qatif. Shiites, who account for about 10 percent of the kingdom's 23 million population, have protested for two days demanding the release of political prisoners.

When news broke that Saudi Arabian police fired shots to break up the protest Thursday, prices soared $3 in just 12 minutes.

'Our biggest fear has been that the unrest infecting the Middle East would surface as violence or bloodshed in Saudi Arabia,' Cameron Hanover said in a report. 'If protests start to create martyrs in Saudi Arabia, then it could be the beginning of the end.'