2020.02.1809:45:00UTC+00Oil Prices Fall Over 1 Percent On Demand Worries

Oil prices fell over 1 percent on Tuesday as investors continued to focus on a possible drop in Chinese oil demand caused by the impact of the coronavirus (Covid-19).

A lack of any coordinated action by OPEC and its allies to support the market also weighed on the commodity.

Global oil demand is now expected to see its first quarterly contraction in over a decade, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The next OPEC+ meeting in March is set to consider an advisory panel's recommendation to lower supply by a further 600,000 bpd after talks on holding an earlier meeting in February appear to have made no progress.

Benchmark Brent crude declined 1.55 percent to $56.78 a barrel after rallying in the previous five sessions. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 1.4 percent at $51.59.

Investor sentiment remains fragile after Apple Inc became the latest company to warn of trouble from the coronavirus outbreak, saying it would not meet its guidance for March-quarter revenue because of slower iPhone production.

Health officials in China published the first details on nearly 45,000 cases of coronavirus infection, saying more than 80 percent cases have been mild and new ones seem to be falling since early this month.

Separately, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that - with a mortality rate of around 2 percent -- COVID-19 was "less deadly" than other coronaviruses such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).