Oil prices shot up Monday after traders put their money where it would. Friday’s sharp sell-offFears that the new variant of omicron Covid will reduce demand for petroleum products led to excessive.

West Texas Intermediate crude futuresThe benchmark oil price in the United States, climbed $3.31 or 5.3% to $71.48 per barrel at 8:15 AM on Wall Street. After falling below $70 on Friday, the move brings it back to above $70.

WTI tumbled 13% on Friday for its worst day since April 2020, and also closed below its 200-day moving average — a closely-followed technical indicator — for the first time since November 2020.

Brent crudeThe international benchmark oil price rose 4.3% to $75.90 on Monday. Along with WTI, the contract lost 11.55% Friday.

Commerzbank analysts said that Friday’s price drop was too steep. According to the bank, “Although the omicron version is fueling concern about demand, however, it is still not possible for us to estimate the real impact on demand.”

Before Friday’s dramatic drop, oil was trending lower even before the October 7th WTI record of over $85 had fallen. Brent crude oil reached an all-time high of three years last month.

RBC analysts said that Friday’s selling could have been due to oil’s rebound in 2021.

In a Sunday note, the company stated that at least part of Friday’s lower air pockets was due to the reduction of risk for the year. After a good 11 months, oil traders would prefer to protect their nest egg and de-risk, rather than battle the current tide of market moves like COVID.

Oil’s whipsaw maneuvers come in advance of a critical meeting between OPEC (and its oil-producing allies), where they will discuss production policies for January. Currently, the alliance known as OPEC+ has returned 400,000 barrels to the market every month, as it undoes its historic production cuts in April 2020, when the pandemic slowed demand for petroleum products.

The group will be looking at the demand and supply trends after last week’s announcements by the U.S., and other countries. tap the Strategic Petroleum ReserveIn an attempt to reduce the rise in fuel prices, Biden administration stated that 50 million barrels of oil would be allowed to flow from the SPR.

Wall Street has split over the announcements that OPEC+ might make on Thursday. Morgan Stanley stated in a note that OPEC+ will not meet its goal of increasing output in January due to uncertainty about omicron.

Citi on the other side believes that OPEC+ would “hold the line”, and keep its proposed 400-k b/d quota increases.

Reporting contributed by Michael Bloom of CNBC.