The expert named the reasons for the decline in oil prices

The sharp drop in oil prices occurred due to tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump, as well as retaliatory measures from China. Olga Veretennikova, Vice president of the Borsell analytical company, told Izvestia on April 4.

The price of the benchmark Brent crude oil on the London ICE exchange dropped below $65 per barrel for the first time since December 2, 2021. This is evidenced by ICE data for April 4.

"The United States and China account for almost half of the global economy (43%). The outbreak of trade wars can lead to serious problems in the economies of these countries, as a result, they will buy less goods from other countries and the consumption of oil and petroleum products will also decrease," Veretennikova said.

According to her, another reason was the statement by OPEC+ that the organization intends to accelerate the lifting of a number of production restrictions. OPEC+ announced plans to increase production by 411,000 barrels per day in May instead of the planned 135,000, citing stable fundamentals. However, after the introduction of tariffs by Trump, this statement seems less justified.

There are also broader supply-side risks, as Donald Trump threatens to apply a maximum pressure policy to oil-producing states under US sanctions, such as Iran and Venezuela. Any price reduction creates significant opportunities to reduce production in these countries without sharply increasing inflation.

"Sanctions on purchases of Iranian, Venezuelan and Russian oil lead to a reduction in supplies, which can offset the impact of duties on goods. Thus, oil prices will remain volatile in the near future," Veretennikova summed up.

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Earlier, on February 24, Evgeny Shatov, a partner at Capital Lab, suggested that in the spring the price of Brent would fluctuate between $70-80 per barrel. In his opinion, in the baseline scenario, the oil market in the first half of 2025 will be balanced by postponing the timing of OPEC+ production growth from January to April.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on February 3 that the situation on the global oil market is stable. Demand is growing, and by the end of last year it increased by about 1.5 million barrels.