Sharjah24 – Reuters: Oil prices were little changed on Monday as investors balanced concerns about fuel demand from the spread of COVID-19 variants and floods in China against expectations of tight supplies through the rest of the year.

Brent crude futures for September fell 3 cents to $74.07 a barrel by 0153 GMT while U.S. Texas Intermediate crude was at $71.99 a barrel, down 8 cents.

Both contracts recovered from a 7% slump last Monday and marked their first gains in 2-3 weeks last week as investors bet demand would stay strong amid falling oil stockpiles and rising vaccination rates.

"We saw an over reaction in the market last Monday, and like all other technical corrections so far oil’s downturn has typically proven short lived," Howie Lee, an economist at Singapore's OCBC Bank said.

"Bargain hunters came in droves when Brent got below $70 and the economic demand for energy looks robust."