TOKYO, July 10 (Reuters) - Oil prices dipped on Friday after
steep falls in the previous session and were set for a weekly
decline on worries renewed lockdowns following a surge in
coronavirus cases in the United States and elsewhere will
suppress fuel demand.
Brent crude LCOc1 was down by 7 cents, or 0.2%, at $42.28
a barrel by 0114 GMT after falling more than 2% on Thursday.
U.S. oil CLc1 fell 13 cents, or 0.3%, at $39.49 a barrel after
a drop of 3% in the previous session.
Brent is heading for a weekly decline of more than 1% and
U.S. crude is on track for a fall of nearly 3%.
While many analysts are expecting economies and fuel demand
to recover from the pandemic, record daily increases in
coronavirus infections this week in the United States, the
world's biggest oil consumer, raised concerns about the pace of
any recovery.
"Renewed coronavirus outbreaks in some parts of the world
have added to reasons to expect the recovery to slow in the
months ahead," Capital Economics said in a note.
In Australia, the government on Friday will consider
reducing the number of citizens allowed to return to the country
from overseas, after authorities ordered a new lockdown of the
country's second-most populous city, Melbourne. The United States had around 56,000 COVID-19 cases on
Thursday, the third consecutive day new infections have exceeded
at least 55,000, according to a Reuters tally. On Wednesday,
U.S. cases topped 60,000, the biggest daily increase in any
country since the outbreak started. Oil inventories also remain bloated due to the evaporation
of demand for gasoline, diesel and other fuels during the
initial outbreak.
U.S. crude oil inventories rose by nearly 6 million barrels
last week after analysts had forecast a decline of just over
half that figure. EIA/S