Crude oil prices plunge on report OPEC+ won’t cut production

Yahoo Finance reporter Ines Ferre looks at how oil markets are faring on Tuesday afternoon as WTI falls the most in seven weeks.

Video Transcript

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RACHELLE AKUFFO: Well, let's get you up to speed on what's happening in the energy space with Yahoo Finance's Ines Ferré. Hi, Ines.

INES FERRÉ: Hi, Rachelle. And if we take a look at our YFi Interactive board, you'll notice WTI down more than 5%. In fact, during the session today, it was down as much as 6%. A couple of reasons why we're seeing this downturn. A report from OPEC about OPEC+, that it will not be considering a potential production cut. Also, Iraq saying that its oil exports have not been impacted by fighting in Baghdad. So that means that their oil is in the market.

And also we're watching low liquidity, low volumes. And this is part of the reason why you're seeing these huge price-- these huge price swings. In fact, late August tends to see-- tends to be a time where we see some wild swings. But again, today, WTI down. Brent Crude also down more than 5%.

Bottom line is that-- I've spoken to analysts about this-- they are expecting these oil prices still to remain between the $80 and $100 range. Stuart Glickman from CFRA had said that, that's the price that they're expecting for WTI. That's still historically elevated prices.

And speaking of historically elevated prices, we know that natural gas prices in Europe have been sky high. Well, natural gas prices today have come down. And this is because the EU is considering a price cap on gas.

Now, last year, Russia was supplying about 40% of the natural gas for Europe. That has diminished considerably since the Ukraine war. And the bottom line is that gas in Europe is incredibly, incredibly important. Today, we're seeing natural gas in the US, that's been down, guys.