Title: Oil rises 1% ahead of OPEC meeting under Omicron cloud

Dec 01, 2021 05:05AM ET

By: AnalysisWatch

Oil costs recuperated a few misfortunes on Wednesday after sharp decreases in the past meeting, as significant makers arranged to examine how they may react to the danger of a drop in fuel interest from the Omicron bill.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rough fates rose 78 pennies, or 1.2%, to $66.96 a barrel at 0122 GMT, subsequent to falling 5.4% on Tuesday.

Brent crude futures rose $1.01, or 1.5%, to $70.24 a barrel after slumping 3.9% on Tuesday.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meets after 13:00 GMT on Wednesday, ahead of Thursday's meeting of OPEC+, which includes OPEC and its allies, including Russia.

While some analysts expect OPEC+ to shelve plans to increase output by 400,000 barrels per day in January in the face of a potential drop in demand due to travel restrictions to curb Omicron, several OPEC+ ministers have said there is no need to change course.

Even if OPEC+ agrees to continue its planned supply increase in January, producers may find it difficult to add that much.

Data from industry body the American Petroleum Institute indicated that crude oil inventories in the US fell by 747,000 barrels in the week ended November 26, a smaller drop than expected, according to market data.

At the same time, gasoline inventories rose by 2.2 million barrels, while analysts had expected no change, while distillate inventories rose by 789,000 barrels, a larger increase than analysts had expected.