Oil prices settled down, on Thursday, for the fifth consecutive session, due to expectations that work will soon resume on a major crude pipeline from Canada to the United States.
This will inject a huge amount of crude back into the market, at a time when the global economic slowdown has increased concerns about fuel demand.
Brent crude futures fell $1.02, or 1.3%, to settle at $76.15 a barrel, according to Archyde.com news agency.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures also lost 55 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $71.47 a barrel.
Canada’s TC Energy said it had shut down its 622,000-bpd Giant Keystone crude oil pipeline, the main line shipping Canadian heavy crude from Alberta to the US Midwest and Gulf Coast, after a leak.
And oil prices rose after the company announced the closure of the line at 02:00 GMT, Thursday. However, market sentiment changed after that, although the company did not announce a date for the resumption of pumping.
“We went back to looking at the demand outlook,” said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital in New York.