The Energy Report: OPEC, China, And Omicron – Investing.com

The Energy Report: OPEC, China, And Omicron – Investing.com

Omicron so far does not look deadly, but there are still lingering concerns about potential oil demand destruction from it. The UK prime minister Boris Johnson made warnings about a ‘tidal wave” of this new variant and one death, but the oil market is trying to look beyond it.

Bloomberg reported that Iraq’s oil minister said on Sunday that he doesn’t see any impact yet from the latest outbreak. OPEC, in its latest report, raised its oil demand figure by 200,000 BPD to 28.8 million barrels a day. That should provide a supportive backdrop. They also said in their oil market report that, “As vaccination rates increase, the impact of the Omicron variant is projected to be mild and short-lived.”

The market is also shaking off Chinese economic concerns on the Evergrande Group (HK:) that slipped and defaulted on some debt last Thursday. The Biden administration looks to put more restrictions on US energy consumption while China goes the other way.