Oil falls to 5-month low over fresh lockdowns, Libyan crude production

Oil kicked off what promises to be a turbulent week of trading by plunging to a five-month low as a continued increase in Libyan crude production coincided with a wave of new virus-lockdown measures in Europe.

The double whammy of falling demand and growing supply pushed futures in New York down as much as 6 per cent in early Asian trading. That could be just the curtain raiser for price action as Americans head to the polls on Tuesday.

The pace of Libya’s production recovery continues to create a headache for the Opec+ alliance. Daily output has reached 800,000 barrels and the country is targeting 1.3 million by the beginning of 2021, said Mustafa Sanalla, the chairman of state-run National Oil Corp. That compares with just 100,000 barrels a day in early September.

British PM Boris Johnson announced a partial lockdown for England over the weekend, with most countries in western Europe already facing tougher restrictions. Cases are also jumping in the US.