Crude oil prices fall nearly 2% after OPEC cuts demand forecast again

Crude oil futures fell nearly 2% on Monday after OPEC cut its demand forecast for 2024 for the third time in a row.

OPEC now sees demand growing by 1.9 million barrels per day in 2024, down from 2 million bpd in its previous forecast, according to a report released Monday. The group expects demand to grow by 1.6 million bpd in 2025, compared with 1.7 million bpd previously.

Here are Monday’s energy prices:

• West Texas Intermediate November contract: $74.08 per barrel, down $1.48, or 1.96%. Year to date, U.S. crude oil has gained more than 3%.
• Brent December contract: $77.58 per barrel, down $1.46, or 1.85%. Year to date, the global benchmark has risen nearly 1%.
• RBOB Gasoline November contract: $2.1035 per gallon, down 2.24%. Year to date, gasoline is little changed.
• Natural Gas November contract: $2.567 per thousand cubic feet, down 2.47%. Year to date, gas is ahead about 2%.

China’s finance minister also disappointed the market during a weekend press briefing. Traders have been banking on more robust stimulus in China to boost the world’s second-largest economy. Soft demand in China, the world’s largest crude importer, has weighed on the market for months.

“China’s monetary stimulus measures failed to stimulate and the weekend’s pledge from the finance ministry to borrow more was long on cliches and phrases but short on reassuring and convincing details,” Tamas Varga, analyst at oil broker PVM, told clients in a note.

The market, meanwhile, continues to monitor the Middle East in anticipation of a retaliatory strike by Israel against Iran. U.S. officials told NBC News that Israel has narrowed down the targets it plans to hit. These include military targets and energy infrastructure, the officials told NBC.