Oil rises, but rising Omicron case raises concerns over fuel demand by Investing.com

Author: Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil rose in Asia on Monday morning, but the rapidly expanding omicron COVID-19 variant is raising concerns about fuel demand. However, losses were limited by supply disruptions in both Kazakhstan and Libya.

It rose 0.37% to $ 82.08 at 21:48 ET (2:48 GMT). It jumped 0.33% to $ 79.16, falling below $ 80.

Investors digested the latest U.S. employment report released last week, including. They also digested a report from Baker Hughes Co., which reported that the number of oil and gas platforms rose to two 588 in the week to January 7, the highest since April 2020.

In Asia Pacific, massive tests were conducted in a northern Chinese city, and two community cases were confirmed to be omicron COVID-19 variants. This could further affect the fuel demand of the world’s largest oil importer.

However, supply disruptions in other places will give a boost to the black liquid.

In Kazakhstan, security forces appear to be controlling protests in the city of Almaty, and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has said most of the time the constitutional order has been restored. Protests began in the western oil-rich regions of the country over the removal of state butane and propane price limits on January 1st.

Production in the strategic oil field Tengiz in Kazakhstan fell on Thursday as some contractors disrupted railway lines in protest, according to the operator. Chevron Corp. (NYSE 🙂 However, normal output is now slowly recovering, Chevron added.

Libyan production fell to 729,000 barrels per day from 20 million bpd in 2021, partly due to pipeline maintenance.

Meanwhile, supplies from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, or OPEC +, do not keep pace with growing demand. Poster production rose 70,000 bpd in December 2021 compared to the previous month compared to the 253,000 bpd increase allowed in a supply deal that year.