The plunge in oil prices in reaction to the emerging Covid-19 variant from South Africa has been overblown, consultant Energy Aspects Ltd. said. Crude futures fell as much as 6% in London toward $77 a barrel on Friday as traders priced in the potential impact of a heavily-mutated Covid-19 variant. The material hit to demand is likely about 15,000 barrels a day, chief oil analyst Amrita Sen said, but the market is pricing in the worst-case scenario. “This is a huge overreaction,” Sen said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “This is the market pricing in the worst possible scenarios.” The slump is likely being ... (full story)