Oil prices fell yesterday, and erased the previous day’s gains as investors monitored developments in the Red Sea, where shippers are returning despite further attacks on Tuesday.

Brent crude futures fell by 53 cents, or 0.7 per cent, to trade at $80.54 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell by 67 cents, or 0.9 per cent, to trade at $74.90, according to Reuters.

It further reported that Danish shipping company Maersk said it has scheduled several dozen container vessels to travel via the Suez Canal and Red Sea in the coming weeks after calling a temporary halt to those routes this month after attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia.

It added that France’s CMA CGM also said it was resuming passage through the Red Sea af- ter deployment of a multinational task force to the region. Head of Commodities at Investec, Callum Macpherson, said: “I think we have to wait and see whether the increased naval patrols and rerouting of ships lead to a decline in attacks.