By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was mixed Friday morning in Asia as concerns that the omicron COVID-19 variant could hit oil demand eased, but supply still remains tight.

Inched down 0.1% to $76.52 at 9:47 ET (2:47 GMT) and rose 1.32% up to $73.72.

COVID-19 Front has positive news. The black liquid saw trading volume drop before the holidays.

The U.K.’s Health Agency stated on Thursday that Omicron is less likely to result in hospitalization than Delta. Also, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration grantsl  Merck & Co . Inc.’s (NYSE) COVID-19 tablet on Thursday Pfizer Inc.’s COVID-19 antiviral therapy Paxlovid (NYSE:), was granted emergency use authorization by the regulator on the same day.

“Crude prices stabilized after a rash of mostly positive COVID-19 vaccine/treatment headlines in the fight against omicron,” OANDA Corp. senior market analyst Edward Moya told Bloomberg.

“It seems all the major catalysts that await oil in the New Year lean towards higher prices,” he added.

Hiroyuki Kikukawa, general manager of research at Nissan Securities, said that investors remained prudent despite surging infections cases.

United Airlines (NYSE:) and Delta Air Lines(NYSE:] announced that they each had cancelled dozens of Christmas Eve flights because of the spread of omicron, which meant smaller staff.

Kikukawa stated that despite the high prices of oil in Europe and Asia it will continue to be a positive sign for those who expect some industries to switch from expensive gas to oil.

Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil (NYSE:) has extinguished a fire at its Baytown oil-processing facility, one of the largest in the U.S. Exxon spokeswoman Julie King said the company is adjusting operating rates to focus on stabilizing the affected unit, and gasoline’s premium over crude hit around 6.1% after the news.

“Today we had some bullish factors to drive up market sentiment,” Commodity Research Group senior partner Andrew Lebow told Bloomberg.

“The Baytown refinery fire could potentially tighten gasoline supplies in the U.S. and it’s happening while crude stocks are being drawn down domestically,” he added.