Oil extended its slide

Oil extended its slide on Wednesday, falling 3.9% to its lowest level over a year as jitters over Credit Suisse rattled global markets and overshadowed expectations of a recovery in Chinese oil demand.

After Credit Suisse’s largest investor announced that they would not be able to offer additional support to assist the Swiss bank in surviving, any hope of regaining stability and steadiness vanished.

Brent crude fell $3.20, or 4.2%, to $74.26 a barrel, after hitting $74.02, the lowest since December 2021. West Texas Intermediate crude fell $2.87, or 4%, to $68.48, also hitting its lowest level since December 2021.

Both benchmarks fell more than 4.3% to three-month lows on Tuesday on fears that last week’s collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and the failure of other U.S. banks could create a financial crisis that would harm fuel demand.

Monthly statistics from the International Energy Agency on Wednesday supported an expected improvement in oil demand from China, a day after OPEC raised expectations for Chinese demand for 2023.

Investors are now eyeing Wednesday’s official U.S. oil inventory report to see if it will confirm a 1.21 million barrel increase in crude inventories.

Dutch greenhouse gas emissions

Greenhouse gas emissions in the Netherlands should be 8.9% lower in 2022 than in the same period last year as the energy crisis reduced the use of natural gas in industry and buildings, Statistics Netherlands said.

Last year, emissions in the eurozone’s fifth-largest economy were 33% below 1990 figures, while the government aims for a 56% drop by 2030.