By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was up Thursday morning in Asia, reversing the previous day’s losses. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) could pause adding supply amid growing concerns about the omicron COVID-19 variant’s risk to economic recovery and fuel demand.

At 9:44 ET (23:44 GMT), they were up 0.42% at $69.29 and rose by 0.75% to $66.06.

“Oil prices climbed as some investors anticipate that OPEC+ will decide to maintain the current supply levels in January to cushion any damage on demand from the Omicron spread,” Fujitomi Securities Co. Ltd. analyst Toshitaka Tazawa told Reuters.

OPEC+ will be meeting later in the afternoon, when it is expected to decide whether or not to increase oil supply to the market. Since August 2021 the cartel added approximately 400,000 barrels (bpd) to global oil supply every month.

However, omicron’s discovery has introduced uncertainty, with some investors now predicting that OPEC+ could pause these additions to avoid a supply glut.

Omicron has quickly become the most dominant COVID-19 variation in South Africa, less than 4 weeks after its discovery. The U.S. reported the first Omicron case Wednesday.

According to David Turk, Deputy Energy Secretary, the U.S. may adjust its timing for releasing strategic crude oil stocks if energy prices fall significantly.

On Wednesday, however, a draw in barrels of 910,000 was recorded for the week ending Nov. 26. Investing.com forecasts a draw of 1.237 million barrels, while a build of 1.017 million was observed during the week before.

Released a day before, it showed a draw at 747,000 barrels.