Oil tumbles 4% on concerns over Europe restrictions, vaccine rollouts

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil prices fell more than 4% on Tuesday, hit by concerns over new pandemic curbs and slow vaccine rollouts in Europe as well as a stronger dollar.

Brent crude futures were down by $2.55, or 3.95%, to $62.07 a barrel by 1455 GMT, having hit a low of $61.41. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) U.S. crude futures fell by $2.65, or 4.3%, to $58.91, after falling to as low as $58.47.

Both contracts traded near lows not seen since Feb. 12.

The front-month Brent spread flipped into a small contango for the first time since January.

Contango is where the front-month contracts are cheaper than future months, and could encourage traders to put oil into storage.