Oil Up over Bets that OPEC+ Might Restrain Supply By Investing.com

By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was up Wednesday morning in Asia, clawing back some losses over expectations that the and allies (OPEC+) will restrain oil supply during a two-day meeting.

jumped 2.33% to $70.84 by 10:37 PM ET (3:37 AM GMT). rose 2.19% to $67.63, slipping below the $70 mark.

OPEC will meet later in the day, with OPEC+ following a day after, with the cartel expected to pause plans to add 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of supply in January 2022. The discovery of the omicron COVID-19 variant triggers travel bans and fuel demand worries, but several OPEC+ ministers have said there was no need to change plans.

“The market continues to look for signs of any impact of Omicron on demand,” ANZ Research analysts said in a note.

However, producers could struggle to supply more oil even if OPEC+ agrees to an increase.

“The threat to oil demand is genuine. Another wave of lockdowns could result in up to 3 million bpd of oil demand lost in the first quarter of 2022,” Rystad Energy senior oil markets analyst Louise Dickson told Reuters.

Meanwhile, Tuesday’s showed a draw of 747,000 barrels for the week ending Nov. 26, lower than the 1.667-million-barrel draw in forecasts prepared by Investing.com. API reported a build of 2.307 million barrels during the previous week.

Investors now await , due later in the day.