Brent Crude falls below $68

Brent crude futures dropped more than 1% to below $68 a barrel on Tuesday, after OPEC+ revised oil demand for the second quarter lower by 300,000 bpd.

Still, the organization expects demand to rise by 5.95 million bpd this year, unchanged from last month.

Meantime, the Colonial Pipeline said it aims to resume full operations by the end of this week, which led some US Gulf Coast refiners to cut output.

The benchmark Brent crude is up more than 30% so far this year as the demand outlook improves with the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines.

On the supply side, OPEC+ started this month a gradual easing of oil production curbs after introducing deep cuts since a pandemic-induced oil price collapse in 2020.

Elsewhere, Tehran might see sanctions lifted if negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the US are successful.

Brent crude is the most traded of all of the oil benchmarks, and is defined as crude mostly drilled from the North Sea oilfields: Brent, Forties, Oseberg and Ekofisk (collectively known as BFOE). This oil type is widely used as it is both sweet and light, making it easy to refine into diesel fuel and gasoline.

Amaka E. Nliam/ Trading Economics