Oil prices rose more than 3% on Tuesday, extending the previous day’s rally of nearly 5% as concerns eased further about the impact on global fuel demand from the Ômicron coronavirus variant.
Brent futures closed up $2.36, or 3.2%, at $75.44 a barrel, following Monday’s rise of 4.6%.
WTI crude rose $2.56, or 3.7%, to $72.05 a barrel, after a 4.9% gain in the previous session. At the high of this Tuesday’s session, each contract rose by more than $3.
Oil prices tumbled last week on concerns that vaccines could be less effective against the new Ômicron variant, raising fears that governments could impose new restrictions that would sap fuel demand.
However, a South African health official reported over the weekend that Ômicron cases showed only mild symptoms, while leading US communicable disease expert Anthony Fauci also said there did not appear to be “a great degree of severity. ” with the variant so far.
“The market has been overestimated as an automatic reaction to the Ômicron variant and its potential to spread and impact travel restrictions,” said Gary Cunningham, director of market research at Tradition Energy. “Now we are seeing the market return to expectations of strong demand in the next six to 12 months.”
In another sign of confidence in oil demand, the world’s biggest exporter, Saudi Arabia, raised monthly oil prices on Sunday.
(Additional reporting by Noah Browning and Florence Tan)
Reference: CNN Brasil
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