Oil fall as Omicron risks weigh | Reuters

Oil fall as Omicron risks weigh | Reuters

Oil fell on Monday as new doubts emerged about the effectiveness of vaccines against Omicron coronavirus variant, though OPEC predicted in its monthly report that the variant's impact on fuel demand will be mild.

Brent crude fell 54 cents, or 0.7%, to $74.61 a barrel by 1443 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 51 cents, or 0.7%, at $71.16.

Both benchmarks posted gains of about 8% last week, their first weekly gain in seven.

"The major oil contracts registered decent weekly gains, but it is noticeable that current prices are still way below the pre-Omicron levels," said Tamas Varga, oil analyst at London brokerage PVM Oil Associates.