Oil prices gave ground again on Tuesday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) said the omicron variant of the coronavirus is likely to penalize the recovery by global demand for crude.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US benchmark for January delivery, is down 1.39% to $70.30 per barrel.

As for the January North Sea Brent contract, traded in London and the benchmark for European imports, it retreats 1.56% to $73.23.

Share prices had already traded in the red yesterday after new doubts emerged about the effectiveness of vaccines against the omicron variant of the coronavirus.