Oil prices dropped nearly 2% today, eating into yesterday’s gains as investors monitor developments in the Red Sea. 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. “I think we have to wait and see whether the increased naval patrols and rerouting of ships lead to a decline in attacks,” said Callum Macpherson, head of commodities at Investec. Oil output in Russia, the third largest producer in the world after the United States and Saudi Arabia, is expected to be steady or even to increase next year as Moscow has largely overcome Western sanctions, analysts said. WTI traded down $1.46 or -1.9% to close at $74.11. Brent traded down $1.42 or -1.8% to close at $79.65.