Oil steadies as coronavirus worries offset more Russia sanctions

Oil prices steadied in volatile trade on Tuesday as growing worries about coronavirus demand destruction offsets supply concerns as the US and Europe plan to impose new sanction on Russia

By Scott DiSavino

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied in volatile trade on Tuesday as growing worries about coronavirus demand destruction offsets supply concerns as the United States and Europe plan to impose new sanction on Russia for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

Brent futures fell 36 cents, or 0.3%, to $107.17 a barrel by 10:51 a.m. EDT (1451 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 54 cents, or 0.5%, to $102.74.

Chinese authorities extended a lockdown in Shanghai to cover all of the financial center's 26 million people, despite growing anger over quarantine rules in the city, where latest results show only 268 symptomatic daily COVID-19 cases.

In the United States, the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center said new deaths rose to what Mizuho executive director of energy futures Robert Yawger said was an all-time high of 14,562 on Monday, which would push total U.S. deaths over 1 million since the start of the pandemic.

Officials at Johns Hopkins were not immediately available for comment. Yawger said the prior U.S. daily record for deaths was 4,442.

The West, meanwhile, is planning new sanctions against Russia over civilian killings in Ukraine, with President Joe Biden's national security adviser saying that new U.S. sanctions against Moscow would be announced this week.

The European Union also proposed sweeping new sanctions against Russia on Tuesday, including a ban on coal imports.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the ban on coal will be followed by oil and then gas.

Moscow, meanwhile, said that Western allegations Russian forces committed war crimes by executing civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha were a "monstrous forgery" aimed at denigrating the Russian army.

 

(Additional reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in London, Liz Hampton in Denver and Isabel Kua in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Mark Porter)