The price of U.S. crude oil drops by almost 2% as the market accelerates its decline, disregarding the impact of the Libya disruption.

• The market selloff is causing oil prices to decrease for the second consecutive day.
• Earlier in the week, a rally in the stock market was triggered by traders disregarding the threat of supply disruptions in Libya.
• The slowdown in China and the associated risks are keeping oil prices low.

On Wednesday, U.S. crude oil dropped nearly 2% to trade at approximately $74 per barrel, as the market continues to lose gains made earlier in the week due to the threat of supply disruptions in Libya.

Despite the potential of a large disruption in Libyan supplies and elevated tensions in the Middle East, oil prices remain range-bound, according to Amarpreet Singh, energy analyst at Barclay's, who shared this with clients on Tuesday.

According to Singh, the reason for the decline in oil prices is low demand in China, the possibility of a global economic slowdown, and no indication from OPEC+ that they will abandon their plans to increase production in the fourth quarter.

U.S. crude oil settled more than 2% lower on Tuesday.

Here are Wednesday's energy prices:

• The October contract price for oil is $72.78 per barrel, a decrease of $1.38, or 1.83%. To date in the year, the United States has seen a 3.5% increase in oil.
• The October contract price per barrel is $78.26, a decrease of $1.29 or 1.62%. Year-to-date, the global benchmark is ahead by 1.6%.
• The price of gasoline in September is $2.20 per gallon, which is a decrease of more than 4 cents or 1.92%. However, year to date, gasoline prices have increased by 4.82%.
• The September contract price for gas is $1.89 per thousand cubic feet, which is a decrease of more than 2 cents or 0.95%. To date, gas prices have decreased by 25% yearly.

The ongoing conflict between rival governments in Libya threatens the stability of the country's central bank, putting at risk approximately 1.2 million barrels of oil per day.

In Benghazi, the eastern government threatened to shut down all production and exports on Monday, causing a rally in oil prices. However, crude futures have since pulled back due to uncertainty about the actual amount of supply that has been taken offline in the OPEC member.

Engineers informed Reuters that several oilfields in Libya have stopped production, but the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli and Libya's national oil corporation have not confirmed any disruptions.