Oil slides as talks between Saudi Arabia and Russia delayed

Global oil prices dropped after Saudi Arabia and Russia postponed a meeting about an agreement to curb production as the pandemic virus hits demand.

The two countries have been caught up in the last month's oil price battle. Traders are worried that too much oil would be available, placing pressure on markets, with large parts of the world in lockdown. Crude prices surged last week after US President Donald Trump indicated a deal was imminent.

The global Brent crude benchmark dropped 12 percent in Asian trade, while US-traded oil, known as the West Texas Intermediate, dropped by more than 10 percent. Measures to curb the spread of coronavirus in countries around the world, including the US, UK and most of mainland Europe and Asia, have seen a dramatic fall in global energy demand.

At the same time, the month-long oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia has brought much more crude to the global market than is required. The price war came after an agreement between the two countries to cut supply, which collapsed last month in response to the drop in demand.

That's forced down rates to levels that have not been seen for nearly two decades as markets wait for a new agreement to be decided. The major oil producing countries were supposed to meet on Monday, but they have now moved the meeting back to Thursday. During the first three months of the year, US oil dropped by two-thirds as it saw its worst quarter on record.

Mr Trump had said that he was expecting both sides to cut supply while Saudi Arabia called for an emergency oil producers conference. The Russian energy minister also said he could re-enter talks with his government.