Coronavirus has caused persistant falls in oil prices, deepening fears the world economy will slow and lower crude demand. Credit: Terry McGraw from Pixabay.

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Oil prices fell for the fifth consecutive day on Thursday, reaching their lowest point since January 2019.

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This came as the number of new coronavirus cases outside China surpassed the number reported inside China for the first time.

Reuters reported that Brent crude was down $1.06 to $52.37 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures dropped by $0.97 to $47.76 a barrel.

As the virus spreads to large economies, such as South Korea, Japan and Italy, growth in fuel demand is expected to be limited.

Oil and gas consultancy Facts Global Energy has estimated oil demand will increase by 60,000 barrels per day in 2020 because of the outbreak, a level it says is “practically zero”.

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PVM Oil Associates analyst Tamas Varga was quoted by Reuters as saying: “The negative price impact would intensify if the coronavirus were declared pandemic by the World Health Organization, something that looks imminent.

“The mood is gloomy and the end of the tunnel is not in sight – there is no light ahead, just darkness. Not even a refreshingly positive weekly US oil report was able to lend price support.”

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said gasoline stockpiles fell by 2.7 million barrels in the week to 21 February to 256.4 million, amid a drop in refinery throughput. Distillate inventories decreased by 2.1 million barrels to 138.5 million.

The federal agency said US crude oil stockpiles increased by 452,000 barrels to 443.3 million barrels, less than the two-million-barrel rise analysts had anticipated.