Oil futures fall on Indian demand concerns, Brent rebounds from lows

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) – Crude oil futures continued their weaker trend Monday on fears that the surge in COVID-19 cases across India will dampen demand, although prices rebounded from the lows late in the session.

Brent futures for June crude traded down to a near two-week low of $64.57/b before rebounding to $65.79/b in late London trading at (1550 GMT), compared to Friday's settle of $66.5/b.

By 1640 GMT, Brent was back up to $65.43/b.

At the same time, June WTI was trading at $61.81, down $0.33/b from Friday's settlement of $62.14/b.

Consultancy FGE said it sees Indian gasoline demand dropping by 100,000 barrels per day in April, and as much as 170,000 bpd in May, compared to March demand of around 750,000 bpd.

Additionally, FGE said diesel demand could fall by 220,000 bpd and 400,000 bpd. Diesel accounts for around 40% of India's fuel demand with sales of around 1.75 million bpd in March.

Meanwhile, the OPEC+ producer group earlier Monday left its demand growth forecast unchanged for 2021 at 5.95 million bpd, reported Reuters. OPEC+ is due to hold a virtual meeting this Wednesday.