Crude oil prices reversed course on Tuesday as concerns over coronavirus restrictions combined with slowing factory activity in key markets.
Brent crude futures were down 5 cents, or 0.1%, to $72.84 a barrel as of 0309 GMT. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 8 cents, or 0.1%, to $71.18 a barrel.
US oil prices reverse course after early recovery
Both markets fell more than 3% on Monday.
U.S. crude and product inventories fell in last week, while inventories of distillates fell for the third week in a row, according to a preliminary survey on Monday.
The resurgent economic risks to China, the world’s largest oil consumer, related to the coronavirus need to be heeded. There are cases of the highly contagious Delta variant in 14 of 32 provinces.
Slowing manufacturing activity is a major concern for both China and the United States. This may impose further mobility restrictions. Koronvairus restrictions are slowing the pace of factory activity.
China’s economic activity continued to slacken in July as the official Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index fell to 50.4 from 50.9 in June.
Manufacturing activity in the US also slowed, with the ISM index falling to 59.5 from 60.6 in June, the lowest since January.
Meanwhile, Iran said on Monday it would respond promptly to any threat to its security, as the United States, Israel and Britain hold Tehran responsible for the attack on an Israeli-operated tanker off the coast of Oman.
