LONDON: Oil prices fell on Friday, dragged down by concerns that a spike in COVID-19 cases in Europe and the United States is curtailing demand in two of the world’s biggest fuel consuming regions, while a stronger U.S. dollar also pressured prices.
Brent crude futures for December were down 50 cents, or 1.2%, to $42.66 a barrel by 1226 GMT and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for November delivery slid 42 cents, or 1%, to $40.55.
Both benchmarks dipped the previous day but remain barely unchanged from a week earlier.
“The reality is that we’re now seeing a pretty active spread of the pandemic across Europe and it’s spreading again in North America, and that potentially will weigh on oil demand recovery,” said Lachlan Shaw, head of commodity research at the National Bank of Australia.
