Oil prices settled higher on Tuesday, with Brent crude ending the session near $80 a barrel despite the rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, supported by supply outages and expectations that U.S. inventories fell last week.
The cost of a Brent oil futures contract for March 2022 delivery on the London ICE stock exchange rose by 0.2% and reached $79.1 per barrel, according to trading data as of 08:08 am Moscow time.
The last time the price of Brent oil exceeded $79 per barrel on November 26, 2021.
By 01:43 pm Moscow time, the price of Brent crude rose to $79.1 per barrel (+1.13%).
The price of a WTI crude oil futures contract for February 2022 delivery increased by 0.05% to $76.02 per barrel.
Investors are awaiting an OPEC+ meeting on Jan. 4, at which the alliance will decide whether to go ahead with a planned production increase of 400,000 barrels per day in February.
At its last meeting, OPEC+ stuck to its plans to boost output for January despite Omicron.
