Oil prices have fallen by 12% since the beginning of the week amid the banking crisis in the US

Oil futures have fallen 12% this week to a 15-month low amid a troubled US banking industry, including a 5% drop yesterday as Credit Suisse shares tumbled 30%.

In the USA, three large banks have already gone bankrupt, including Silicon Valley Bank, which was among the twenty largest banks in the country. And yesterday there was information about the pre-default state of one of the largest Swiss banks, Credit Suisse, whose shares fell by 30% yesterday, due to which the country's central bank allocated $54 billion to stabilize the situation.

The crisis in the banking industry became a wake-up call for global markets, so traders began actively selling commodity assets and buying US government bonds, which strengthened the dollar and increased pressure on oil prices.

May futures for Brent oil yesterday fell by 4.9% to $73.7/barrel (-12.2% for 3 days, -14% for the year), and for WTI oil - by 5.2% to $67.8/barrel (-13.2% for 3 days, -18% for the year), which is the lowest level since December 2021.

The data of the monthly report of the International Energy Agency (IEA), released on Wednesday, is weighing on the crude oil market. Global crude inventories are expected to exceed demand in the first half of 2023, rising by 52.9 million barrels in January to a 1.5-year high of 7.8 billion barrels.

Quotes were also negatively affected by JPMorgan Chase's report, according to which China's fuel demand in the first quarter will be lower than expected due to a reduction in international transportation, which, after the recovery in January, will be only 23% of the 2019 average.

However, prices are supported by increased demand for oil in India, which is the world's third-largest consumer of crude oil. According to the forecasts of the Ministry of Petroleum of the country, starting from April, the consumption of petroleum products in India will grow to a record 233.8 million tons, which will exceed the figure of the previous year by 4.9%.

In February, the Russian Federation met the need for imported oil for India by 40%, and for China by 20%.

According to the EIA report published on Wednesday, US crude oil inventories as of March 10 were 6.9% above the 5-year average.

Falling oil prices and a global economic slowdown are dampening demand and food prices, which will add pressure on grain prices in the coming months. Markets expect a worsening of the situation in China's financial market amid the crisis in the construction and banking industries, which will negatively affect global commodity markets.