Oil falls amid stockpiling concern; European vaccine woe threatens demand

TOKYO, March 16 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Tuesday,
extending declines for a third day, as concerns about rising
stockpiles in the United States added to the threat to demand
posed by countries including Germany and France halting COVID-19
vaccinations.
Brent crude LCOc1 was down 58 cents, or 0.8%, at $68.30 by
0041 GMT, having dropped 0.5% on Monday. U.S. crude CLc1 was
down 61 cents, or 0.9%, at $64.78 a barrel, after declining 0.3%
in the previous session.
Germany, France and Italy plan to suspend AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) PLC
AZN.L COVID-19 injections after reports of possible serious
side effects, although the World Health Organization said there
was no established link to the vaccine.
These moves are deepening concerns over a slow pace of
vaccinations in the region, which may delay any economic
recovery from the pandemic in one of the hardest-hit areas.
The pandemic eviscerated demand for oil but prices have
recovered to levels before the global health crisis, only to be
capped as vaccination rollouts have been slow in most countries.
In the United States, stockpiles are also rising because of
last month's "big freeze" which halted refining operations that
have taken time to fully return.
"Crude oil inventories have increased substantially in
recent weeks, as a result of U.S. refinery disruptions, which
have seen crude oil stocks approaching 500 million barrels," ING
Economics said in a client note.
The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, will
report crude stock pile levels later on Tuesday, followed by
official numbers from the Department of Energy on Wednesday,
with analysts expecting another week of gain. API/S
Crude inventories increased by 12.8 million barrels in the
week to March 5, against analysts' expectations for a rise of
less than 1 million barrels.