WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil futures settled higher on Tuesday, extending gains to a fifth straight session, as the outlook for energy demand turned a bit positive amid hopes the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is unlikely to any significantly impact global economic recovery.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended higher by $0.41 or about 0.5% at $75.98 a barrel.
Brent crude futures gained $0.34 or about 0.4% to settle at $78.94 a barrel today.
Markets look ahead to the upcoming OPEC+ meeting, scheduled to take place on January 4. The group is set to decide whether to go ahead with a planned 400,000 barrels-per-day production increase in February.
Worries about the impact of the Omicron variant have eased a bit. According to reports, the most common symptoms appear to be sore throats, mild headaches and congestion, and in some cases, the loss of taste or smell.
Many patients are showing only mild symptoms, helping ease concerns about flight cancellations over the weekend.
The U.K. government has ruled out introducing stricter Covid-19 restrictions in England before the end of the year.
The American Petroleum Institute's weekly oil report is due later today, while the Energy Information Administration (EIA) is scheduled to release its inventory data Wednesday morning.
Analysts expect the data to show a 3.2 million barrels drop in U.S. crude inventories.
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