Brussels attacks: Oil price falls after explosions see investors switch to 'safe' gold and bonds

Two blasts were heard at Brussels airport at around 8am on Tuesday morning, closely followed by a third at a city Metro station near EU buildings

The oil price has recovered slightly since January, but is still 65 per cent off its June 2014 peak (Getty Images)

The oil price has fallen since the attacks in Brussels on Tuesday morning as investors look to put their money into so-called save-haven assets like gold and government bonds.

Oil rose at first on Tuesday after a drop in the amount of oil produced by the US eased concerns of global oversupply.

But the price of Brent crude, the global benchmark oil price, had fallen 14 cents to $41.40 a barrel by 9.10am.

“The stocks [fall] in [U.S. oil delivery hub] Cushing helped ... but obviously now you have these headlines from Brussels and that can lead to some risk-off positioning. But the movements for now are not very significant,” Olivier Jakob, Petromatrix strategist, told Reuters.

Two blasts were heard at Brussels airport at around 8am on Tuesday morning, closely followed by a third at a city Metro station near EU buildings. Both the Metro system and the airport were closed as rescuers sought to evacuate anyone inside.

Travel companies led the fallers on European stock markets, with airlines and hotel groups affected.

The 300 largest global oil and gas companies have witnessed their stock market value falling $2.3 trillion, or 39 per cent, since the oil price began to slide in the summer of 2014, according to analysis by the Financial Times.

The oil price has recovered slightly since January, when it was trading around $30 a barrel, but is still 65 per cent off its June 2014 peak.