Brent crude falls below $90 a barrel — the lowest in 7 months

Brent crude, the global benchmark, plunged 3.16 percent to $89.67 a barrel on Wednesday amid imminent recession across western countries. 

The new price is the lowest since January 23, 2022.

On the other hand, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell over 3 percent to $83.52 a barrel. 

The development comes after Vladimir Putin, Russian president, threatened to halt all oil and gas supplies if price caps are imposed on the country’s oil and gas exports. 

“Will there be any political decisions that contradict the contracts? Yes, we just won’t fulfil them. We will not supply anything if it contradicts our interests,” Putin said.

“We will not supply gas, coal, heating oil — we will not supply anything.” 

Shortly after Putin’s threat, the European Union (EU) proposed a price cap on Russian gas ahead of the energy ministers’ emergency meeting on Friday.

“We will propose a price cap on Russian gas… we must cut Russia’s revenues which Putin uses to finance this atrocious war in Ukraine,” Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, told reporters.

For Nigeria, unprecedented levels of crude oil theft, subsidy payments and underinvestment cut short the chance of high revenue on rising oil prices.

Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer (GCEO), Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) Limited, had said Nigeria loses 700,000 bpd to crude oil theft and production shut-in.

In July, the country produced 1.08 million barrels per day (bpd), lower than 1.79 million barrels per day as allocated by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).