Oil prices fall on demand hopes dashed from Delta variant case rises

By Sibel Morrow

ANKARA (AA) - Oil prices fell on Tuesday amid the reports of increasing cases of COVID-19 Delta variant, which fed worries of decline in global demand with a possibility of more restrictions.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $73.59 per barrel at 0712 GMT for a 0.15% loss after closing Monday at $73.70 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was trading at $71.83 a barrel at the same time with a 0.11% fall after ending the previous session at $71.91 per barrel.

Despite the fall in prices during the early session, there is a positive sentiment on oil prices, which prevented further decline, following the unveiling of plans of the World Bank and COVAX, the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access initiative, to speed up vaccine supplies to developing countries where COVID-19 inoculation rates lag far behind those of richer nations.

Through its Advance Market Commitment (AMC) program, COVAX expects to make up to 430 million more vaccine doses available between late 2021 and mid-2022.

Under the AMC program, countries will be able to choose and commit to procuring specific vaccines based on their preferences.

According to statistics from Our World in Data, only 1.1% of people in these nations have received at least one dose, compared to 26.9% of the global population.

Also, providing a support on prices, the UK on Monday reported the lowest daily total of new COVID-19 cases since July 4.

Investors are now keeping tabs on the inventory data forecast of American Petroleum Institute (API) later on Tuesday and the data of US Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.