Oil falls as Suez Canal opens, dollar rallies; eyes on OPEC+ meeting

Oil prices slid on Tuesday as the Suez Canal reopened to traffic and the dollar rallied, while focus turned to an OPEC+ meeting this week, where analysts expect an extension to supply curbs to offset dim demand prospects.

Brent crude fell $1.20, or 1.9%, at $63.78 a barrel by 1:12 p.m. (1712 GMT) West Texas Intermediate US oil was down by $1.28, or 2.1%, at $60.28 barrel.

Ships were moving through the Suez Canal again a day after tugs refloated the Ever Given container carrier, which had blocked the passage for almost a week. The backlog of 422 ships could be cleared in 3 -1/2 days, the canal’s chairman said.