Oil was hit with renewed selling pressure on Monday, falling below $70 a barrel and adding to last week’s steep losses on growing concerns about the Delta coronavirus variant sapping demand in Asia.
Brent, the international crude oil marker, fell as much as 4 per cent to $67.87 a barrel, extending last week’s 7 per cent drop. West Texas Intermediate, the US oil benchmark, was also down more than 4 per cent to $65.33 a barrel. It dropped more than 7 per cent last week, its steepest fall in nine months.
China, the world’s biggest oil importer, is fighting its worst Covid outbreak since the start of the pandemic and has tightened travel restrictions and started mass testing in an effort to try to contain the virus.