Oil price falls to $70 a barrel amid surge in Omicron COVID-19 variant cases

Crude oil prices fell by 4 percent on Monday over rising cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in Europe and the United States.

Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, dropped by $3, or 4%, to $70.58 a barrel by 11:00 GMT+1 — the lowest since April 2021. The U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell $3.1 or 4.4%, to $67 a barrel.

Over the weekend, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention said the Omicron variant of COVID-19 will become the “dominant strain” in the coming weeks.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) had said Omicron cases are doubling every 1.5 to 3 days with documented spread.

Market analysts believed that the new cases could pose new restrictions on businesses and hit fuel demand.

On Friday, TheCable had reported that oil price fell to $73 a barrel amid increasing cases of Omicron Variant.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia, and allies, known as OPEC+, had said there could be a meeting ahead of its scheduled January meeting to review its plans to add 400,000 barrels per day to its supply in January.