Crude has fallen almost $30 a barrel since the US midterm elections, taking Brent briefly below $90 on Tuesday as optimism over potential peace talks in Iran and Ukraine deepened the market rout, even as Persian Gulf VLCC freight rates to China held near $36 to $37 a barrel.
The slide extends oil’s steepest weekly drop since April 2020, when Brent fell 16.6% and West Texas Intermediate touched $86.60 a barrel on Monday after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress. Hedge funds and other money managers sold the equivalent of 93 million barrels across the six major petroleum futures and options contracts in the seven days through Nov 3, the fastest pace in more than 10 months, while trend following funds offloaded roughly 126 million barrels since Oct 30.



