Tuesday began with a fall in benchmark oil prices. The drop was triggered by fears of the second wave of the coronavirus that could be caused by the restrictions weakening.

More than 10 million people in the world were infected with COVID-19. Around 500 thousand people died.

The United States is still the country with the largest number of inflected people. Moreover, in many states, new cases of COVID-19 are rapidly growing. In this regard, these states introduced new restrictions to prevent a further spread of the infection. This, in turn, could negatively affect the demand recovery and could significantly slow down this process.

On Tuesday, the price of Brent crude dropped by 0.53% to $41.49 per barrel. WTI crude oil futures lost 0.36% to trade at $41.7 per barrel.

An imbalance in supply and demand may also happen due to the resumption of oil production in Libya. Libyan National Oil Corporation said on Monday that the government is making progress in negotiations with neighboring countries to lift the blockade.