Oil prices ease as investors wait for assessment of Omicron’s impact

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (BNA): Oil prices fell on Wednesday after two days of gains, as investors waited to assess the full impact of the coronavirus variable Omicron on the global economy, fuel demand as well as efficacy. of existing vaccines.

Brent crude futures were down 19 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $75.25 a barrel at 0519 GMT, after settling up 3.2 percent on Tuesday. US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $71.82 a barrel, down 23 cents, or 0.3%, after rising 3.7% in the previous session.

Oil prices rebounded earlier this week from last week’s crash with growing optimism that Omicron’s new formula will not cause significant economic damage.

“The recovery took a breather as investors tried to confirm the full impact of the Omicron variant before buying more,” said Satoru Yoshida, commodities analyst at Rakuten Securities.

The head of research with a lab at the Africa Institute of Health Research in South Africa said Tuesday that the Omicron variant could partly evade protection from two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine for Pfizer and its partner BioNTech.

Meanwhile, British drugmaker GSK said, on Tuesday, that an antibody-based COVID-19 treatment with US partner Vir Biotechnology is effective against all mutations in the Omicron variant.

“Investors remain not entirely optimistic and are taking a wait-and-see approach for now,” said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, general manager of research at Nissan Securities.

He added that the market is also focused on Iranian nuclear talks, tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and winter weather in the northern hemisphere.

Indirect talks between Washington and Tehran on restoring the nuclear deal resumed a week ago but were halted on Friday and are due to resume later this week, with Western officials expressing dissatisfaction with the sweeping Iranian demands.

A German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Monday that Germany wants Iran to present realistic proposals in talks over its nuclear programme.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that the West would impose “economic and other strong measures” on Russia if it invaded Ukraine, while Putin demanded guarantees that NATO would not expand eastward.

Biden warned Putin that he could face harsh economic sanctions and disrupt the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Europe, and that the United States and European allies would provide Ukraine with additional defensive capabilities.

Oil markets reacted little to the weekly US inventory data.

US crude stocks fell last week while gasoline and distillate stocks rose, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected US crude stockpiles data to show a second consecutive weekly decline.

HF