SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Oil prices fell on Tuesday on a strong dollar, and expectations of weakening demand due to fresh COVID-19 curbs in top world crude importer China and fears of a global economic slowdown.
Brent crude futures fell $2.32, or 2.2%, to $104.78 a barrel by 0953 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $101.46 a barrel, down $2.63, or 2.5%. Both contracts fell by about 3% earlier.
The market was rattled by news that China had discovered its first case of a highly transmissible Omicron subvariant in Shanghai. New mass COVID testing in China potentially hitting demand, a concern that outweighed ongoing concerns about tight supply.
