(London) Oil prices fell on Tuesday as concerns about demand became clearer after the appearance of the new variant, in a nervous market two days before the OPEC + top.
Around 10:55 a.m., the price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in January, which is the last day of listing, lost 3.44% to 70.91 dollars.
In New York, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for the same month fell 3.87% to 67.24 dollars.
The two benchmark contracts on either side of the Atlantic fell to $ 66.51 and $ 70.22 respectively around 8:30 a.m., a first since August 24.
“The looming shadow of the Omicron variant is growing in global oil markets today after worrying statements about vaccine efficacy by Moderna’s CEO,” observes Louise Dickson, Rystad analyst.
Interviewed by the Financial Times, the boss of the American pharmaceutical company, Stéphane Bancel, estimated that the existing vaccines against COVID-19 would be less effective on the new variant, and that it would take several months to develop a new serum.
“The threat to oil demand is real,” resumes Mr.me Dickson, who says a new wave of lockdowns could lead to a drop in consumption of up to 3 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 2022.
New health restrictions are multiplying Tuesday in the world, as in the United Kingdom, where wearing a mask in transport and shops has become mandatory again, and in Japan on Tuesday, which now prohibits “all entries of foreign nationals”.
This Moderna announcement came to plummet on Tuesday a market which tried to prolong the timid recovery of the day before at the very start of the Asian session, after a fall of more than 10% on Friday, the worst of the year.
The uncertainty caused by Omicron “will make the task of OPEC” more difficult “, noted for their part the analysts of ING.
Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meet between themselves Wednesday and Thursday with their allies via the OPEC + agreement, led by Russia.
At the end of this summit, “we do not rule out that the group pauses its production increases for January,” resume analysts from ING.
Investors are also watching closely the Iranian nuclear talks which resumed Monday in Vienna, Austria.
The historic producer of OPEC has been excluded from the market since Donald Trump’s denunciation in 2018 of the 2015 nuclear agreement, supposed to prevent Tehran from acquiring atomic weapons.
A possible lifting of sanctions would cause the cartel’s supply to increase in a context that has become more uncertain for demand.