Oil price plunges to $70 a barrel ahead of OPEC+ meeting

Oil prices fell to $70 per barrel ahead of the meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies scheduled to hold December 2. 

Brent crude futures, an international oil benchmark, fell by 3.72 percent to $70.71 at 2:52 pm on Tuesday. 

Also, U.S. West Texas Immediate (WTI) fell by 4.05 percent to $67.12 per barrel at 2:52 pm.  

Last week, the price dropped to $84 per barrel, amid a new coronavirus variant and U.S. release of millions of barrels of oil from strategic reserves.

Paul Donovan from UBS, a financial service provider, told Reuters that the travel constraints propelled by the omicron variant of COVID-19 affected these prices adversely. 

“The economic impact is driven by fear, and by policy response. Fear is impacting travels. There are outright bans. But also the fear of being stranded which causes travel plans to alter,” Donovan said.

Reuters reported that there were growing expectancies that the OPEC alliance would halt plans to add another 400,000 barrels of oil by January, due to a weakening demand outlook.