The price of Brent Crude oil dropped to $40.40 per barrel on Tuesday as concerns over slowing global demand amid rising coronavirus cases in US, UK, India and others weighed on the commodity.

Brent crude, against which Nigerian oil is priced, declined below $43.54 per barrel on Friday following the global stock rout. This decline continues on Monday after Saudi Arabia lowered the selling price of its Arab light oil for October. Another indication that demand for the commodity is waning and likely responsible for the price adjustment made by the world’s largest producer.

This, coupled with rising cases of COVID-19 in 22 states in the US, India, the United Kingdom and other countries across the world plunged the commodity that has managed to remain in range between $43 -$46 per barrel in the past two months.

“The price weakness is continuing today,” said Eugen Weinberg, analyst at Commerzbank. “We believe this is attributable first and foremost to demand concerns.”

Brent crude oil has declined by around 8 percent since the end of August and likely to continue below $40 per barrel this week as economic uncertainty thickens.

“The streak of losses is driven by a stalling crude demand outlook for the rest of the year,” said Paola Rodriguez-Masiu, analyst at Rystad Energy.

Meanwhile, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) in Nigeria is yet to adjust pump price in line with the new deregulation policy. Since pump price was raised last week, crude oil has declined more than $5 from $46 it was sold on Wednesday when PPPRA adjusted its price.

Nigerians have rejected the increment, saying the timing was wrong given the negative impacts of COVID-19 on the people and the recent increase in VAT to 7.5 percent and the adjustment made to electricity billion to reflect service.