To 2019 world oil market chronology

Brent oil price dived below $30 per barrel on April 14 with rising oversupply in the global market due to low oil consumption around the world.

Price of the international benchmark hit $29.85 a barrel at 1548GMT for a daily loss of 5.95% after closing Monday at $31.74 per barrel.

World oil prices continue to go down, with the WTI down to $ 23 a barrel - a price the market last saw on March 6, 2002.

As of 7:19 pm Bulgarian time, the price of the May futures of the Brent North Crude fell to 11.7% to $ 25.37 a barrel. The price of the May futures of WTI oil fell 17.23% to $ 22.62 a barrel.

Following Russia's refusal to cut oil output faced with a coronavirus-fuelled slump in demand, its alliance with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has been thrown into doubt, as has the cartel's influence on prices.

Oil prices plummeted around 30 percent on March 9 after Saudi Arabia slashed its official selling prices and set plans for a dramatic increase in crude production next month, starting a price war even as spread of the coronavirus erodes global demand growth.

OPEC agreed on March 5 to cut oil output by an extra 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in the second quarter of 2020 to support prices that have been hit by the coronavirus outbreak but made its action conditional on Russia and others joining in.