An oil cold war in the offing: Omicron variant adds more complication to the market

An oil cold war in the offing: Omicron variant adds more complication to the market

The aggressive debut of the omicron variant is set to further complicate matters for the oil market, as the formidable Opec+ group gather to talk today.

But it is not the only problem facing members of the group, made up of countries led by Russia, which are not members of Saudi-led Opec and export crude oil, will have to deal with when they chat on Zoom to decide output policy for January.

Oil prices tumbled on Tuesday after Moderna chief Stéphane Bancel warned that existing vaccines could be less effective against the new variant than previous strains. And oil futures ended November with the worst monthly decline since the pandemic’s outset.