Oil prices decline as European coronavirus lockdowns douse recovery hopes
TOKYO (Reuters) – Oil prices resumed their decline on Monday, falling around 1% as worries about a drop in demand for fuel products in the wake of yet more European lockdowns dominated trading.
Brent crude was down 60 cents, or 0.9%, at $63.93 a barrel by 0136 GMT. U.S. oil was off by 68 cents, or 1.1%, at $60.74 a barrel. Both contracts fell by more than 6% last week.
Germany plans to extend a lockdown to contain COVID-19 infections into a fifth month, according to a draft proposal, after new cases exceeded levels authorities say will cause hospitals to be overstretched.
“The reality is that we’re still a long way from a full demand recovery, and it’s the record levels of withdrawn production capacity that’s the main prop for the oil market,” said Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at Axi.
