Crude prices are tanking. Brent fell below $65 while WTI crashed to $60.56 – lowest since 2021. That’s a brutal 13% weekly decline. Trump’s tariffs against China have markets spooked, despite energy products dodging the tax bullet. Global oversupply isn’t helping either, with 6 million barrels of spare capacity. Wall Street’s cutting forecasts left and right. Recession fears are real, and OPEC+ might need a new playbook soon.
Oil prices are in free fall. Brent crude crashed below $65 per barrel while WTI tumbled to $60.56, hitting lows not seen since August 2021. A brutal 13% weekly drop, with WTI suffering a stomach-churning 9% single-day nosedive—the worst since 2023. Year-to-date? Down a painful 15.02%. Remember when oil hit $147.27 back in July 2008? Those days feel like ancient history now.
China just slapped 34% tariffs on U.S. imports. Great timing. Meanwhile, OPEC and allies decided this was the perfect moment to pump an extra 411,000 barrels daily starting in May. Because what the market really needed was more oil, right?
Global recession fears are mounting faster than gas prices used to. Trade tensions between the U.S. and China have markets spooked, even though energy products dodged the tariff bullet. Investors aren’t buying it. The confidence is gone, replaced by visions of economic doom.
Supply side isn’t helping matters. The world’s sitting on roughly 6 million barrels per day of spare production capacity. Non-OPEC producers keep pumping, too. Despite the previous administration’s clean energy push, record oil production in the U.S. continues to contribute to global oversupply. US crude inventories rose by 6 million barrels when analysts had expected a reduction. Industry experts are already warning about inventory buildups by late 2025. Classic oversupply story—we’ve seen this play out before.
The oil market drowning in its own excess—6 million barrels of daily spare capacity with more stockpiles looming on the horizon.
Wall Street’s taking notice. Goldman Sachs and HSBC slashed their price forecasts. JP Morgan’s practically reaching for the recession panic button. Oil futures markets look like a bloody battlefield with WTI down 9.4% since January.
Energy companies are sweating. Oil-exporting nations are checking their bank accounts nervously. Even Middle East tensions can’t compete with economic fears right now. OPEC+ might have to rethink their strategy if they want prices to recover. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) suggests crude may be entering oversold conditions, potentially offering temporary relief.
The ripple effects won’t stop at the pump. Trade uncertainties are already spilling into other sectors. What started with tariff threats has morphed into an oil market meltdown. And the worst part? Nobody knows where the bottom is.
