By Gina Lee

Investing.com: The U.S. Oil price rose on Wednesday for the sixth straight session.

At 9:30 ET (2:02 AM GMT), the price was $78.78 and it had risen 0.03% to $76.00. Strength in Equities has helped both.

Many asset classes, including oil and equities, have recovered losses since late November when investors were sent into a spiral by the Omicron version of COVID-19.

Investors now have hope after a delay by France and Britain in imposing additional COVID restrictions before the year ends. Investors have returned to risk assets as fears about its effects receded.

Omicron, however, has caused staff shortages which resulted in thousands of cancellations during the American Christmas Weekend.

Three oil producers also slowed down oil production because of maintenance problems and shutting down oilfields, which helped prop up oil prices.

Tuesday’s U.S. crude oil supply data from ended Dec. 24. Investing.com’s forecasts for Tuesday predicted a 3.23-million barrel draw. However, a 3.67million barrel draw was observed during the prior week.

Investors are also waiting for, which is due late in the afternoon.

Russia may not reach its May goal of producing pre-pandemic levels of oil, but it might later this year according to sources and analysts.

Alexander Novak (Russia’s Deputy Premier Minister) stated that Russia’s output will exceed pre-pandemic levels by May at 11.33 million barrels/day (bpd), which is the same as in April 2020.

Investors are now awaiting the OPEC+ meeting, Jan. 4. This is where the group will decide if it wants to proceed with a production increase of 400,000 barrels daily in February.

Despite Omicron, OPEC+ decided to boost January’s output at its last meeting.

According to the Iranian Oil Ministry, Azadegan is expected to become Iran’s biggest oilfield by 2023. The total oil production is 320,000 barrels per hour (bpd).