By Doris Yu
Investing.com – Oil was down Tuesday morning in Asia due to concerns about an outbreak of the number of COVID-19 cases in part of the world. Investors now await the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) meeting this week, which is expected to boost fuel supply.
Brent Oil Futures fell 0.38% to $73.86 by 10:20 PM ET (2:20 AM GMT) and Crude Oil WTI Futures slid 0.32% to $72.68.
U.S. crude oil supply data from the American Petroleum Institute is due later in the day.
Oil is up around 10% in June due to the economic recovery from COVID-19 in key markets including the U.S. and China.
However, the U.K. reported the highest daily rise in COVID-19 cases on Monday since January 30. Hong Kong, Spain, and Portugal banned all passenger flights from the nation to curb the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19. Meanwhile, Australia is seeing a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases, with 110 cases of Delta variant in Sydney by Sunday.
On the supply side, OPEC+ is expected to increased supply by 500,000 to 1 million barrels a day in August when the cartel meets on Thursday.
The group forecasts that global oil markets will remain in deficit in 2021 if it keeps output steady. Fuel demand is surpassing supply by 1.7 million barrels a day in August, according to estimates to be presented to the Joint Technical Committee.