Oil slips as gloom grows over soaring COVID-19 cases, lockdowns

By Sonali Paul
MELBOURNE, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Tuesday,
adding to losses from the previous session that came as
California tightened its pandemic lockdown through Christmas and
coronavirus cases continued to surge in the United States and
Europe.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures fell
18 cents or 0.4%, to $45.58 a barrel at 0153 GMT, while Brent
crude LCOc1 futures fell 24 cents, or 0.5%, to $48.55 a
barrel. Both benchmark contracts lost around 1% on Monday.
Globally, a sharp rise in coronavirus cases has led to a
string of renewed lockdowns, including strict measures in the
U.S. state of California as well as Germany and South Korea.
"The pandemic situation is continuing to be very disruptive
in quite a few places in the U.S. and parts of Europe. That's
impacting sentiment on demand near term," said Lachlan Shaw,
National Australia Bank's head of commodity research.
California on Monday required most of the state to close
shop and stay at home under a new order which will last at least
three weeks. Government sources in France said the country may have to
delay unwinding some lockdown restrictions next week after signs
the downward trend in new cases had flattened out after shops
were allowed to reopen late last month. Following last week's rally in oil prices on the back of
vaccine rollout plans and an agreement by the Organization of
the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, together called
OPEC+, to hold back supply increases, analysts said they were
closely watching U.S. lawmakers' efforts to approve a new
economic stimulus package.
The stimulus will be needed to drive jobs growth, and, in
turn, energy demand.
"For the moment, the market is happy to look past these
issues as the vaccine rollout begins; however the economic
headwinds are building in the short term," ANZ Research said in
a note.
Data due from the American Petroleum Institute later on
Tuesday and from the U.S. government on Wednesday is expected to
show that U.S. crude stocks fell last week, while refined
product stockpiles rose, according to estimates from five
analysts polled by Reuters.