04.01.202122:05:00UTC+00Oil Futures Settle Sharply Lower As OPEC Defers Decision On Output

Crude oil futures ended sharply lower on Monday amid concerns over outlook for energy demand and on news about the Oragnization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies' failure to reach an agreement on crude output.

The OPEC and allies, including Russia, will now meet again on Tuesday to decide whether they can continue to restore crude supplies without capsizing the price recovery.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for February ended down $0.90 or about 1.9% at $47.62 a barrel.

OPEC+ raised output by 500,000 barrels per day this month. However, some members are against further increasing output from next month due to the surge in coronavirus cases.

Several states in the U.S. reported spikes in new coronavirus cases over the weekend. According to data from the Johns Hopkins University, 210,479 new cases were reported across the country in the 24 hours leading to Monday morning.

The national average Covid test positivity rate rose to 13.52%.

In the U.K., the National Health Service (NHS) began rolling out the Oxford University vaccine developed by AstraZeneca as protection against Covid-19 on Monday. Six hospitals in England will administer the first of around 530,000 doses of the vaccine.