After a couple of days of recovery, WTI crude oil prices have weakened by as much as 6% early on Thursday after the US imposed travel restrictions to Europe in a bid to contain the spread of the coronavirus. At the time of writing, WTI crude oil is trading at around $31.34 per barrel.

Crude oil prices have been weakening lately over fears of the coronavirus severely depressing demand for oil even as Saudi Arabia plans to increase oil output starting next month. Fears of oversupply in markets dominates the sentiment and are driving oil prices to multi-year lows as a result.

So far, WTI crude oil has lost around 50% of its value from the highest levels seen so far this year back in January during heightened geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran. The latest drop in oil prices has come over worries that travel restrictions would slow down economic activity worldwide and cause further reduction in the demand for oil.

Meanwhile, crude oil prices received another blow after the UAE also committed to raise oil production, in line with Saudi Arabia’s plans. National oil company of UAE, ADNOC, had confirmed that it will increase crude sales by 4 million bpd and raise oil production to 5 million bpd, further raising supply of oil in markets.