Measuring the impact of COVID-19 surveillance variables over the international oil market

Abstract

Coronavirus (COVID-19) has turned to be an alarm for the whole world both in terms of health and economics. It is striking the global economy and increasing the unpredictability of the financial market in several ways. Significantly, the pandemic spread stimulated the social distancing which led to the lockdown of the countries’ businesses, financial markets, and daily life events. International oil markets have accommodated the crude oil prices during the early COVID-19 period. However, after the first 50 days, Saudi Arabia has surged the market with oil, which caused a certain decrease in crude oil prices, internationally. Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest oil reserves in the world. International trade is based on oil reservoirs which in turn, have been significantly dislodged by the pandemic. Therefore, it is crucial to study the impact of COVID-19 on the international oil market. The purpose of this study is to investigate the short-term and long-term impact of COVID-19 on the international oil market. The daily crude oil price data is used to analyze the impact of daily price fluctuation over COVID-19 surveillance variables. The correlation between surveillance variables and international crude oil prices is calculated and analyzed. Consequently, the project will help in stabilizing the expected world economic crises and particularly will provide the implications for the policymakers in the oil market.