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   From: Davecross@kremlin.ru   
      
   London (CNN Business)Oil producers are facing the biggest drop   
   in demand for their product ever as the coronavirus spreads   
   around the world, forcing OPEC and its allies to consider   
   emergency measures.   
      
   Research firm IHS Markit said Wednesday that oil demand will   
   suffer its steepest decline on record in the first quarter —   
   worse even than during the 2008 global financial crisis — as   
   schools and offices close, airlines cancel flights worldwide and   
   a growing number of people hunker down at home.   
      
   Most of the reduction in demand can be traced to China, where   
   the coronavirus has caused what IHS Markit describes as an   
   "unprecedented stoppage" of economic activity.   
      
   But reduced consumption will be widespread, and IHS Markit   
   expects global demand to drop by 3.8 million barrels per day in   
   the first quarter compared to 2019. Demand in the first three   
   months of 2019 was 99.8 million barrels per day.   
      
   "This is a sudden, instant demand shock — and the scale of the   
   decline is unprecedented," said Jim Burkhard, vice president and   
   head of oil markets at IHS Markit.   
      
   The warning comes ahead of a critical meeting Thursday for OPEC   
   members and allied producers in Vienna. The cartel, is under   
   pressure to announce yet another round of coordinated production   
   cuts, its preferred method of propping up prices.   
      
   Coronavirus fears have already driven oil into a bear market,   
   with Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, trading at   
   $52.65 per barrel, more than 23% below their recent peak in   
   early January. US oil is trading at $48.22, nearly 24% below   
   recent highs.   
      
   https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/04/business/oil-prices-   
   opec/index.html   
         
      
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