Naveen Thukral

SINGAPORE, (Reuters) – Oil prices gained ground Tuesday. They traded close to the one-month-highs of last week’s session. This was due to expectations that Omicron coronavirus will only have a small impact on global demand.

By 0115 GMT, the price of a barrel rose 7.1% to $78.67, or 0.1%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude oil (WTI), rose 18.2 cents or 0.2% to $75.75 per barrel. This is the fifth consecutive session of gains.

Both the markets traded close to Monday’s peak, which was their highest level since late November.

Sajid Javid, British minister of health, said Monday that England won’t be subject to new COVID-19 regulations before 2021. The government still needs more evidence about whether it can manage high rates of infection.

U.S. airlines cancelled more than 1300 flights on Sunday due to COVID-19 reducing the availability of crews, while cruise ships were forced to cancel stops.

Supported by higher demand and lower supply by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) and its allies this year, oil prices rose by around half a percent.

Investors await an OPEC+ meeting Jan. 4 at which time the alliance will decide if it is going ahead with a February production increase of 400,000 barrels per day.

Despite Omicron, OPEC+ held firm to its January production plans at its last meeting.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission reported Monday that money managers have increased their net positions in long options and futures during the week up to December 21.

The combined options and futures position of the speculator group in New York City and London was increased by 4,634 contracts, to 259.093 over that period.