Oil Finishes Lower amid Uncertainty

Oil prices finished marginally lower on Tuesday, amid uncertainty and continued concerns about a potential downturn in demand recovery due to the spread of the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus.

Despite the recent decision by the OPEC+ alliance to further ease output cuts and continue to raise production gradually between August and December, investors are still weighing the expectations of a tight supply with fears that the resurgence of the pandemic with a new wave could halt the expected demand recovery during the second half of the year.

Brent crude futures for September lost 2 cents, or 0.03%, to finish at $74.48 per barrel.

This marked the first decline for the global benchmark front-month contract after five consecutive increases.

Brent futures for October delivery lost as much as 18 cents, or 0.2%, to finish at $73.52 a barrel.

Meanwhile, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for September delivery logged its second consecutive loss and declined by 26 cents, or 0.4%, to finish at $71.65 per barrel.

Data by the American Petroleum Institute (API) just showed that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 4.7 million barrels for the week ending on July 23.

Gasoline stockpiles declined by 6.2 million barrels, while distillate inventories decreased by 1.9 million barrels last week.

Official inventory data by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) are due tomorrow.