By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was up Tuesday morning in Asia, after rebounding almost 5% the day before. While worries about fuel consumption have subsided, talks to revive the Iran nuclear deal ran into a block.

They were up 0.3% to $73.34 at 10:22 ET (03:22 GMT), and up 0.3% to $69.93

Ntsakisi Maluleke, a public health specialist in South Africa’s Gauteng province said over the weekend that patients with the new omicron COVID-19 variant had only shown mild symptoms. Anthony Fauci from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases also stated that it does not appear to be severe.

“This lowers the probability of the worst-case scenario that the oil markets have been pricing in over the past couple of weeks,” ANZ analysts said in a note.

Saudi Arabia increased the price of January crude oil to Asia earlier in the week, a further sign of confidence. This decision came as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+), which was meeting last week, maintained its goal of increasing oil supplies by 400,000 barrels daily in January.

Indirect U.S.-Iran negotiations to revive a 2015 nuke deal are stalled. This will prevent the Iranian supply of oil, which has given prices a lift.

Markets may have to contemplate a longer delay in Iranian oil exports, even though negotiations might still be successful when they resume later this week. That’s positive for oil prices and supports OPEC+’s plans to boost oil production through 2022,” Commonwealth Bank of Australia commodity analyst Vivek Dhar said in a note.

Investors await U.S.A., which is expected later in the morning.