Oil falls on India's COVID surge, supply increase | Reuters

Oil falls on India's COVID surge, supply increase | Reuters

Oil fell on Monday on fears that surging COVID-19 cases in India will dent fuel demand in the world's third-biggest oil importer, while the end of a force majeure on exports from a Libyan terminal and an expected supply increase from OPEC+ added to pressure.

Brent crude was $1.08, or 1.6%, lower at $65.03 a barrel by 1329 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 97 cents, or 1.6%, at $61.17 a barrel.

Both benchmarks fell about 1% last week.

"The market is tending to focus more on the bad news from India and Japan at present, where the number of new coronavirus cases has risen sharply, prompting increased mobility restrictions to be imposed," said Commerzbank analyst Eugen Weinberg.