Oil rises 3%, extending rally as Omicron fears retreat

Reuters

Published Dec 06, 2021 08:49PM ET

Updated Dec 07, 2021 03:16PM ET

By Nia Williams

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Oil prices climbed by more than 3% on Tuesday, extending the previous day's rebound of almost 5% as concerns eased further about the impact on global fuel demand of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

Brent crude futures settled up $2.36, or 3.2%, at $75.44 a barrel, after Monday's rise of 4.6%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose $2.56, or 3.7%, to $72.05, building on a 4.9% gain the previous session. At the session highs on Tuesday, each contract was up more than $3.

Oil prices tumbled last week on concerns that vaccines might be less effective against the new Omicron variant, sparking fears that governments could impose fresh restrictions that would sink fuel demand.

However, a South African health official reported over the weekend that Omicron cases there had shown only mild symptoms while the top U.S. infectious disease official, Anthony Fauci, also said there did not appear to be "a great degree of severity" with the variant so far.

"The market was oversold as a knee-jerk reaction to Omicron and its potential spread and impact on travel restrictions," said Gary Cunningham, director of market research at Tradition Energy. "Now we're seeing the market go back to expectations of strong demand over the next 6-12 months."

In another sign of confidence in oil demand, the world's top exporter, Saudi Arabia, raised monthly crude prices on Sunday.

Last week, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, agreed to keep raising output by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January despite release of U.S. strategic petroleum reserves.

"The market is starting to take this variant in its stride," said Matt Smith, an analyst at data and analytics firm Kpler.