Global market: Crude oil dips below USD 80-mark

The crude oil price in the world market has once again dipped below the threshold of USD 80 per barrel, a level that the world recorded in December 2021 before the Ukraine war.

Brent crude was trading at USD 78.82 a barrel on Friday. The price ranged between USD 77 and USD 83 throughout the last one month.

The fuel price started coming down after Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), warned that one-third of countries will face recession in 2023.

When the Brent crude price exceeded USD 80 per barrel in October 2021, the government adjusted the fuel price in the local market, with a Tk 15 hike in diesel and kerosene price.

Again, the government hiked the fuel price in August, 2022 to an unprecedented extent. It swelled inflation and hit daily life hard.

Ministers repeatedly assured that the fuel price will be adjusted here once the price falls in the global market. State minister for power, energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid said, “We have not increased the oil price, we have only adjusted it (with the global market).”

Recently, the prime minister's energy affairs adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said the oil market is very unstable. It has dropped to USD 80 today and may exceed USD 100 tomorrow.

“The price will be adjusted in the local market once there is a kind of stability in the market,” he added.