Crude oil futures were lower in mid-morning trade in Asia Dec. 15, extending losses from the previous session, as concerns over an impending surge in COVID-19 cases from the omicron variant mounted.
At 10 am Singapore time (0200 GMT), the ICE February Brent futures contract was down 53 cents/b (0.72%) from the previous close at $73.17/b, while the NYMEX January light sweet crude contract fell 60 cents/b (0.85%) to $70.13/b. Concerns over the omicron variant once again took center stage as emerging news showed the fast-spreading nature of the virus, as well as government responses to curb the spread, which in turn is expected to hurt oil demand. A South African study out Dec. 14 showed that a two-dose regime of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine was less effective in keeping omicron-infected people out of the hospital compared to […]