By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was mixed Friday morning in Asia, extending gains after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) decided to leave its supply addition plans unchanged at its latest meeting. The black liquid is still expected to continue its sixth-week decline.

The price of gold rose by 1.15% to $70.47 at 10:18 ET (03:18 GMT), and then jumped by 1.32% up to $67.38.

After Thursday’s meeting, OPEC+ said that they will not change their plan to increase supply by 400,000 barrels per hour (bpd). The cartel may change its policy quickly if it sees fuel demand for the COVID-19 variant. If this happens, however, they were prepared to meet prior to the Jan. 4th 2022 meeting.

Omicron’s discovery has made for a volatile week over concerns of renewed lockdowns that would hurt fuel demand and push OPEC+ to pause output increases.

However, OPEC+’s surprise decision boosted prices with “traders reluctant to bet against OPEC+ eventually pausing its production increases,” ANZ Research analysts said in a note.

Ann-Louise Hittle, Wood Mackenzie analyst, said that it makes sense for OPEC+ not to change its current policy, as it is still uncertain if omicrons could resist vaccines.

The group members keep in close contact with each other and monitor the market closely. Hittle explained to Reuters that they are able to quickly respond when we begin to understand the magnitude of the Omicron variation of COVID-19’s impact on global economic and consumer demand.