Oil prices fell a little over fears of COVID-19 and floods

Oil prices fell a little on Monday as investors are concerned about fuel demand from the spread of COVID-19 variants increasing the cases, and floods in China.

For September, Brent crude futures fell 44 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $73.66 a barrel by 0432 GMT while U.S. Texas Intermediate crude was at $71.62 a barrel, down 45 cents.

“We saw an over reaction in the market last Monday, and like all other technical corrections so far oil’s downturn has typically proven short lived,” Howie Lee, an economist at Singapore’s OCBC Bank told Reuters.

Despite a decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their allies to raise production through the rest of the year, the global oil markets are expected to remain in deficit.