LONDON - Global oil prices plunged over China demand concerns and European gas prices sank to their lowest levels since November 2021 as mild winter weather reduced demand.
Crude prices extended losses from a day earlier, diving around five percent, over concern about demand in the world's biggest oil importer China, amid a steep rise in Covid infections in the country.
"While reliable data is seemingly hard to come by, the view appears to be that there'll be significant disruption in the coming months and then a recovery from around the middle of the year which should then boost demand," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA trading platform.
Analysts also pointed to the mild European winter and a pick-up in the dollar that makes crude more expensive for holders of other currencies.
Meanwhile, wholesale natural gas prices in Europe sank to their lowest levels since November 2021 as mild winter weather reduced demand, erasing all the gains seen last year amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The benchmark European contract -- Dutch TTF gas future for the coming month -- dropped 9.3 percent to 65.59 euros at around 1620 GMT, extending losses since the beginning of the week.