The West Texas Intermediate for April delivery lost 59 cents to settle at 64.80 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for May delivery decreased 49 cents to close at 68.39 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
"Given that new coronavirus cases have been rising significantly again for some days, there are growing doubts about whether demand will in fact recover as strongly as expected, at least in the second quarter," Carsten Fritsch, energy analyst at Commerzbank Research, said in a note on Tuesday, citing that "tougher regulations are being discussed or indeed have already been decided in Europe."
"Moreover, the high oil price itself is already beginning to show a visible slowing effect on demand," he said.
On Monday, front-month U.S. benchmark crude prices declined 0.34 percent, and Brent crude fell 0.49 percent.
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