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Oil Begins New Year With Gains

Oil Begins New Year With Gains
Oil Begins New Year With Gains

Oil prices firmed on Monday as the market kicked off 2022 on a positive note with suppliers in focus ahead of Tuesday's OPEC+ meeting, although surging Covid-19 cases continued to dent demand sentiment.
Brent crude added 56 cents, or 0.72%, to $78.34 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 52 cents, or 0.69%, to $75.73 a barrel, Reuters reported.
"Tightened supplies from Libya ahead of an Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies meeting kept the market sentiments positive," said Abhishek Chauhan, the head of commodities at Swastika Investmart Ltd.
Libya's state oil firm said on Saturday the country's oil output would be reduced by 200,000 barrels per day for a week due to maintenance on a main pipeline between the Samah and Dahra fields. 
Meanwhile, OPEC+ will probably stick to their plan to add 400,000 barrels per day of supply in February, four sources said. 
Last year, oil prices rose around 50%, spurred by the global economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic slump and producer restraint, even as infections reached record highs worldwide. 
Oil analysts have lowered their price forecasts for 2022 as the Omicron coronavirus variant poses headwinds to recovering fuel demand and risks a supply glut as producers pump more oil, a Reuters poll showed on Friday. 
 

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