Oil bear market deepens as OPEC talks emergency action to deal with coronavirus crisis

Transportation in major Chinese cities has been shut down, and Chinese flights have been grounded.Oil prices attempted to rally Monday on the reports OPEC might cut another 500,000 barrels on top of the current 1.8 million, but virus concerns reversed early gains."They're getting run over by this demand destruction, " said John Kilduff, partner with Again Capital. Returning supply from Libya/Iran could be another bearish hit."The Citi analysts said China's passenger and freight traffic could be down 70% for two or more weeks, before gradually recovering.They said demand could fall by 1 million barrels a day in the first quarter, given the much larger size of China's economy and oil demand now, compared to during the SARS outbreak in 2003."If China's refinery runs hold up, buying US oil to meet Phase One trade deal commitments, this could boost product exports, pressuring margins and crude demand ex-China, hitting prices across the oil complex," the Citi analysts added.As for WTI, it slid below $50 in after hours trading.