Oil prices fell for a third straight day early on Wednesday as concerns about demand amid surging Delta COVID variant continue to weigh on market sentiment.
As of 9:13 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, before the weekly EIA inventory report, WTI Crude was down below $70 per barrel again, after dipping briefly below that mark on Tuesday. WTI Crude traded at $69.09, down 2.08%. Brent Crude was trading down by 1.60% at $71.25.
Soaring COVID cases with the fast-spreading Delta variant were front and center in the oil market on Wednesday, trumping geopolitical tensions with incidents with oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.
The latest COVID scare outweighed concerns about supply from the Middle East, where a tanker was reportedly a target of a hijacking attempt off the coast of the UAE, Oil Price reported.
