By Barani Krishnan

Investing.com: Oil prices rose again for the seventh consecutive day as New Year’s Eve approached. This was due to optimism regarding global travel in 2020, despite Covid variant risks.

Saudi King Salman’s call on oil producers to stick with OPEC+’s output caps and recommendations to ensure market stability also supported crude prices on Thursday. On January 4, the 23-nation alliance of oil producers, which includes Russia and Saudi Arabia, will meet to approve a 400,000-barrel-per-day increase for February production if market conditions permit.

, the benchmark for U.S. crude, settled Thursday’s trade up 43 cents, or 0.6%, at $76.99 per barrel. WTI rose more than 13% in the last six sessions after falling to $66.04 for three weeks on Dec. 20, due to fears over an Omicron outbreak. Annually, the U.S. benchmark index is up 58%.

The global oil benchmark, London-traded Brent was at $79.32, up 9c or 0.1%. Brent is now up over 11% from the Dec. 20 low at $72.87. The global benchmark has increased 53% year-to-date.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States have assured Americans that Omicron is a lower risk form of coronavirus than the Delta strain. This assurance was especially true for those who were vaccinated. 

Reports from Reuters on Wednesday showed that the daily average of coronavirus confirmed cases in the United States reached a record level of 258,312 for the past seven days. However, the report didn’t indicate how many infected people were not vaccinated. Separately, CDC data  shows that more than 61% of the total U.S. population is fully vaccinated, and over 32% of fully vaccinated adults have received a booster.

As people travel for holidays, Christmas and New Year in the United States, the last weeks of December tend to be strong for fuel and diesel consumption. Because of seasonal gift delivery, the trucking industry is also very busy at this point.

The Energy Information Administration Wednesday released weekly oil inventory data that reinforced these trends.

The EIA’s Weekly Petroleum Status Report reported that the number of barrels fell to 3.576million by the end Dec. 24. 

Investing.com’s industry analysts had predicted a drawdown in the oil sector of around 3.233million barrels per week.

This latest drop in crude oil stockpiles follows back-to-back drops of 4.715 Million and 4.584 Million barrels over two weeks, which also exceeded our expectations.

U.S. gasoline inventories rose two weeks ago to their highest level in six months, however this was not normal due to fuel demand.

Last week however, inventory levels had returned to their seasonal patterns, falling by 1.459million barrels. This was the lowest level since November. Analysts predicted a 31,000-barrel gasoline consumption for the week.

also fell by a substantial 1.726 million barrels last week, the most in three weeks, versus expectations for a drawdown of  59,000 barrels.