After biggest loss for producers since 2020 the slide could continue, with global output expected to remain high
Oil markets have recorded their steepest annual fall since the Covid pandemic and could be on track to plummet further as oil producers continue to pump more crude than needed by the global economy.
Oil prices slumped by almost 20% in 2025, marking the biggest annual loss since 2020 and the first time that the oil market has recorded three consecutive years of annual losses.
The steady slide in prices has emerged despite ongoing conflict in some of the world’s most important energy-producing regions due to a “cartoonishly” oversupplied market, according to analysts.
Crude fell below $60 a barrel for the first time in almost five years last month as political leaders began to inch towards a Russia-Ukraine peace deal which could increase the glut in the global market if western sanctions are lifted on Russian exports.
