Oil prices fall 2% as inventories rise and vaccine rollout stalls

Oil prices fell for a fifth day running on Thursday on a stronger dollar, a further increase in U.S. crude and fuel inventories and the weight of the ever-present COVID-19 pandemic.

Brent crude fell $1.47, or 2.16%, to $66.53 a barrel by 1341 GMT. U.S. oil was down $1.50, or 2.32%, at $63.10 after shedding 0.3% in the previous session. Both contracts are down more than 4% over the past five days.

“Short-term developments – stuttering vaccine rollouts and the build in U.S. oil inventories – are driving sentiment, but the longer-term oil outlook is still encouraging,” said PVM Oil Associates analyst Tamas Varga.

“Yesterday’s U.S. Federal Reserve meeting provided a boost to equities … U.S. economic growth has been revised upwards while unemployment is expected to decline.”