Brent crude futures rose $1.91 cents, or 2.7%, to $71.58 a
barrel by 0959 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude
futures rose $1.73, or 2.6%, to $68.23 a barrel.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia
and allies, together called OPEC+, surprised the market on
Thursday when it stuck to plans to add 400,000 barrels per day
(bpd) supply in January.
"Its decision to continue increasing monthly crude production is
a vote of confidence in the near-term demand outlook. Better
said, OPEC+ is banking on the new Omicron variant not having a
lasting impact on oil demand," PVM said in a note.
But producers left the door open to changing policy swiftly if
demand suffered from measures to contain the spread of the
Omicron coronavirus variant. They said they could meet again
before their next scheduled meeting on Jan. 4.
"Brent has climbed to $71 per barrel, which puts it around $5
above yesterday's daily low. So what is the explanation? OPEC+
said that it could reconsider yesterday's decision at short
notice if market conditions were to change," Commerzbank's
Carsten Fritsch said.
In addition, OPEC has struggled to actually follow through with
its scheduled output increases.
Markets across assets have been roiled all week by the emergence
of Omicron and speculation that it could spark new lockdowns and
dent fuel demand.
For the week, Brent was poised to end down about 1.7%, heading
lower for a sixth straight week for the first time since
November 2018. WTI was broadly stable on the week, after five
weekly drops.
JPMorgan analysts said the market fall implied an "excessive"
hit to demand, while global mobility data, excluding China,
showed that mobility is continuing to recover, averaging at 93%
of 2019 levels last week.
"So far we see no signs of demand weakening on (a) global
scale," the JPMorgan analysts said in a note.
(Additional reporting by Roslan Khasawneh and Sonali Paul;
editing by David Evans)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|