By David Ho
Investing.com – Oil prices slipped on Monday morning in Asia as the Omicron coronavirus variant in Europe and the United States kept investors on their toes with worries that fuel demand will slow if new restrictions on businesses are rolled out.
Brent oil futures fell 1.69% to $71.75 by 10:56 PM ET (3:56 AM GMT) and WTI futures fell 2.78% to $68.89.
"Today's Asia ... weak sentiment in oil prices seems to go in line with a weakness seen in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures," said Kelvin Wong, market analyst at CMC Markets.
"(This is) due to fears of impending restrictions on economic activities to contain the current increasing spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant worldwide which may increase the risk of demand slowdown."
The Netherlands went into lockdown over the weekend. Several European countries are likely to impose more COVID-19 restrictions ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays.
In the U.S., people are being urged to get booster shots and wear masks in crowded public spaces.
Meanwhile, U.S. energy firms this week added oil and natural gas rigs for a second week in a row.
The oil and gas rig count, which is used to gauge future output, rose by three to 579 in the week to Dec. 17, its highest since April 2020, according to a report by energy services firm Baker Hughes Co.
But Russia is expected to provide lower output with its exports of oil planned at 56.05 million tonnes in the first quarter of 2022 versus 58.3 million tonnes in the fourth quarter of 2021, as seen in a quarterly export schedule.