Early on Tuesday, WTI crude oil prices are weakening again over rising worries about the pandemic’s impact on Europe’s economy as more countries impose lockdowns and restrictions even as the COVID-19 vaccine distribution slows down in the region. At the time of writing, WTI crude oil is trading at around $60.91 per barrel.

During the previous session, WTI crude oil recovered some of its value after falling by over 6% through the past week. However, it returned to trading bearish, losing around 1% in early trading today. Europe is experiencing the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, forcing several nations to bring back lockdowns and partial restrictions to contain the spread of infections. This has forced economists to revise the economic outlook for the Eurozone lower following some optimism over the vaccine rollout.

Europe’s largest economy and energy consumer, Germany, is likely to continue with restrictions into next month, curtailing shopping and travel, which is likely to drive oil demand considerably lower. France also announced a partial lockdown over the weekend, while restrictions have also been imposed in Poland and Ukraine.

In addition, the region’s vaccine distribution programs have also been fraught with several challenges, further delaying the possibility of a rebound in the economy as well as oil demand. This has exerted further downward pressure on crude oil prices lately.

The sentiment among oil traders worsened after leading agencies forecast extended weakness in demand even as supply looks set to rise. While the IEA revised its crude demand forecasts for 2021 lower by 2.5 million bpd last week, the EIA has cautioned that global supply of oil could exceed demand by H2 this year.