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Brent crude <LCOc1> was down 48 cents, or 1%, at $44.89 a barrel
at 0933 GMT, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) U.S. oil <CLc1>
fell 34 cents, or 0.8%, at $42.59 a barrel.
"The surge in COVID-19 infections over the summer has muted the
recovery and anyone still believing in a V-shaped recovery needs
to do some reassessment," said Hussein Sayed, chief market
strategist at FXTM.
A firmer U.S. dollar also put pressure on oil prices, analysts
said, leaving them stuck in their narrow trading range of recent
weeks.
Oil prices have been rangebound since mid-June, with Brent
trading between $40 and $46 per barrel, and WTI between $37 and
$43.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its
allies, known an OPEC+, said on Wednesday that the pace of oil
market recovery appeared to be slower than anticipated with
growing risks of a prolonged second wave of the pandemic.
The group pressed oil nations pumping above output targets to
cut more in August-September due to concerns about the strength
of recovery in demand.
Prices were also pressured after several U.S. Fed members said
additional monetary policy easing may be needed because a
rebound in employment was already slowing.
"All roads in global and regional economies lead to the
containment of the virus and the end of these roads is not in
sight yet," said oil broker PVM's Tamas Varga.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday
that U.S. fuel demand fell by more than 2 million barrels per
day (bpd) to 17.2 million bpd in terms of product supplied.
Overall fuel demand in the last four weeks is down 14% from
year-ago levels. As the summer driving season comes to a close,
fuel demand tends to decline.
However, stockpiles of crude in the United States fell for a
fourth straight week, even as net imports rose, the EIA said. [EIA/S]
GRAPHIC: OPEC production https://graphics.reuters.com/OPEC-OIL/ygdvzmrewpw/chart.png
(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in London; additional
reporting by Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo; editing by Jason Neely)
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