By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was up Friday morning in Asia, clawing back some recent losses after the ignored call to raise supply and opted to continue with a more gradual return of output.

After falling nearly 2% on Thursday, the WTI futures rose by 0.97% to $81.32 at 11:31 ET (3:31 GMT). WTI futures increased 1.09% and reached $79.67 following a 2.5% decline in the previous session.

OPEC+ said on Thursday it would continue to implement its plan to increase oil output by 400,000 barrels a day (bpd), beginning December. It did so at Thursday’s meeting.

“This was a simple and fast OPEC+ output meeting. Edward Moya from OANDA, a senior market analyst for OPEX+, stated that OPEC+ never considered changing their output strategy. “This was completely their message,” Edward Moya said to Reuters.

Continuous COVID-19 outbreaks contributed to OPEC+’s cautious approach, with a global supply crunch also exacerbating the tightness in the oil market, while some OPEC members failing to reach their output targets has put additional pressure on crude supply.

It ignored the U.S. President Joe Biden’s requests for additional output in order to lower rising prices. Biden was actually seeking as much as a double of the previously agreed amount. The U.S. also counts among the top consumers that previously considered taping their strategic reserves if OPEC+ failed to increase production.

Due to COVID-19’s effect on fuel demand, OPEC+ has been limiting supply. The black liquid reached seven-year highs recently, but it dropped earlier this week after the American Petroleum Institute (U.S. Energy Information Administration) reported an increase in oil supply.