The oil prices They rose slightly on Monday as supply disruptions in Kazakhstan and Libya offset concerns stemming from the rapid global rise in omicron infections.
At 10:06 GMT, crude Brent rose 19 cents, or 0.2%, to $ 81.94 a barrel, while oil West Texas Intermediate (WTI) from the United States was up 20 cents, or 0.3%, to $ 79.10 a barrel.
Oil prices jumped 5% last week, after protests in Afghanistan disrupted rail lines and hit production at the country’s main oil field, Tengiz, while maintenance of pipelines in Libya brought pumping down to 729,000 barrels per day from a peak of 1.3 million bpd last year.
Kazakhstan’s largest oil company, Tengizchevroil, is gradually increasing production to reach normal rates in the Tengiz field after protests limited production there in recent days, the operator said on Sunday. Chevron.
Therefore, the headwinds on oil prices due to supply concerns should subside, suggesting that prices will fall this week, “said Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank.
Oil is also being supported by growing global demand and lower-than-expected supply additions from the US. Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and its allies, a group known as OPEC +.
The production of the OPEC in December it increased by 70,000 barrels per day compared to the previous month, compared to the increase of 253,000 barrels per day allowed under the supply agreement of the OPEC +, which has gradually lifted the production cuts applied in 2020 when demand collapsed under quarantines to stem the spread of COVID-19.
However, an increase in infections by Covid-19 put pressure on oil prices. Despite early studies showing a lower risk of serious illness or hospitalization with omicron compared to Delta variant, health care networks in Spain, Great Britain, Italy and elsewhere are increasingly in demand.