Prices of the West Texas Intermediate fade the initial spike to levels above the $61.00 mark per barrel and return to the $60.00 neighborhood on Monday. The barrel of the American reference for the sweet light crude oil comes under some selling pressure following earlier tops beyond the $61.00 mark. With the Suez Canal situation now normalized, prices look to the recent usual fundamentals for direction, which remain dominated by the combination of escalating COVID-19 cases in the Old Continent, the poor pace of the vaccination campaign (with the exception of the US, UK, and Israel) and new lockdown measures in many developed economies.

Prices of the West Texas Intermediate extend the choppy activity seen in past sessions. In fact, the recent rally in the commodity came to a halt just below the $68.00 mark per barrel (March 8), as traders remain worried about new lockdown restrictions in Europe coupled with the slow vaccine rollout and the impact on oil demand and gasoline. Adding to the downward trend, the stronger note of the dollar has been also weighing on prices along with diminished inflows into commodity-based ETFs. On another front, refineries are expected to go into maintenance mode for the next 1-2 months, putting prices under extra pressure.