Oil skids as specter of China virus looms over fuel demand, economy - Reuters

Oil skids as specter of China virus looms over fuel demand, economy - Reuters:

Oil prices fell to their lowest in seven weeks on Thursday, sliding more than 1% on concern that the spread of a respiratory virus from China may lower fuel demand if it stunts economic growth in an echo of the SARS epidemic nearly 20 years ago.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 87 cents, or 1.4%, to $62.34 a barrel by 0733 GMT, and earlier dropped to the lowest since Dec. 4 after falling 2.1% the previous session.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures CLc1 fell 94 cents, or 1.6%, to $55.80 a barrel after earlier falling to the lowest since Dec. 3. The contract declined 2.7% on Wednesday.

The new coronavirus has killed 17 people through respiratory illness since it emerged late last year in Wuhan, a city of 11 million people in central China.