Oil prices go down at an accelerated pace. Oil prices have accelerated their fall amid a stronger dollar and a general wariness of investors towards risky assets.

Oil prices are falling — what is going on in the market

April futures on Brent fell by $2.40 (2.82%) to $82.74 per barrel at London’s ICE Futures Exchange. The price of North Sea oil fell below $83 per barrel for the first time since February 7.

WTI March futures quotations fell by $2.33 (2.97%) to $76.16 a barrel at that time on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).

Risky assets, including stocks and commodities, are weakening Friday on fears that a stream of strong data on the U.S. economy will provoke the Federal Reserve into new interest-rate hikes that could be sharper than the 25 basis points expected.

“Markets are worried about a possible rate hike of 50 bps at once at the Fed’s next meeting, which is supporting the dollar and putting pressure on oil,” wrote Giovanni Staunovo, a commodities analyst at UBS Group AG.

The index, which tracks the dollar’s performance against six major world currencies, jumped 0.7% on Friday.

Another negative factor this week was data from the U.S. Energy Department that showed oil reserves in the country jumped by 16.28 million barrels last week. Experts predicted its average growth by 2 mln barrels.

This year’s U.S. Energy Department data “consistently gives bearish signals to the market, pointing to weak consumer demand, low refinery activity and an increase in oil reserves,” analysts said at Sevens Report Research.

Earlier we reported that oil company Chevron intends to strike a deal with Algeria.