Oil prices fall below $40 as virus threatens economies

Crude oil prices fell on Wednesday as the global coronavirus outbreak continues to threaten global economies while further fueling demand concerns.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $39.67 per barrel at 0607 GMT for a 0.27% decrease after closing Tuesday at $39.78 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $36.65 a barrel at the same time for a 0.29% decrease after ending the previous session at $36.76 per barrel.

Oil prices fell below $40 per barrel for the first time since June as countries worldwide have started to fear a second wave of the coronavirus, which may necessitate new restrictions and/or lockdowns that would drive oil demand further down.

The demand concerns were further fed after Saudi Arabia's state producer, Saudi Aramco, announced it would cut October prices for its sales to the US and Saudi's main market Asia.

The number of COVID-19 cases worldwide is now over 27.5 million, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.

As the US leads the number of cases with more than 6.3 million as of Wednesday morning, India follows with over 4.3 million case while Brazil trails with more than 4.1 million cases.