Brent falls 1%, WTI crude below $40

Oil prices edged down on Tuesday, giving up some of the gains from the previous session that came after drug manufacturers Pfizer and BioNTech said their experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective based on initial trial results.

Investors focus, meanwhile, shifted to coronavirus cases in Europe and the return of lockdown measures.

Rystad Energy warned that the lockdown in Europe may lead to a drop in demand for crude by an additional one million barrels per day by the end of this year, indicating that it may take months before the vaccine becomes available, Reuters reported.

Brent crude was trading down 1.1% at $41.94 a barrel, at 8.55 am Makkah time.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures also fell 1.4% to $39.71 a barrel.