The price for a barrel of Brent oil fell by 2 percent on Monday to below $ 90 a barrel. Traders appear to be anticipating a further tightening of monetary policy, with a high probability of an economic slowdown.
The US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England will make an interest rate decision this week.
On the other hand, the US dollar is close to an all-time high, making dollar-priced commodities more expensive.
Fears of a recession in Europe are mounting – the Bundesbank also estimates the chance of at least two-quarters of negative economic growth in Germany to be very high. That should lead to less demand for crude oil.
On the supply side, crude oil exports have returned to normal in Basra (Iraq).