By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was down on Wednesday morning in Asia, with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) keeping its plan to increase supply for February 2022 as the fuel demand outlook brightens.

They were at $79.81 (03:04 GMT) by 10:00 PM ET and down 0.2% to $76.83 as of 10:04 PM ET.

On Tuesday, fears about the COVID-19 omicron variant continued to subside. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told the media that omicron’s spread is not impacting oil demand, thanks to the low level of hospitalizations.

However, the cartel could not reach the agreed amount. Russia did not increase output in December 2021 and Libya, a fellow OPEC member expects that production will fall this week. OPEC+ analysts also cut the first quarter’s surplus estimate and predicted weaker supply growth from rivals.

Some investors believe that the overall backdrop of supply and demand looks favorable for OPEC+.

“Prices are heading higher after OPEC+ showed they are more confident that the global crude demand outlook will only take a limited hit,” OANDA senior market analyst for the Americas Ed Moya told Bloomberg.

He said that geopolitical risk such as Russia-Ukraine tensions or the revival of Iran’s nuclear agreement could support an increase in oil prices.

Meanwhile, Tuesday’s U.S. crude oil supply data from the for the week ended Dec. 31. Investing.com forecasts a draw at 3.400m barrels. During the week before, a draw was 3.090m barrels.

Crude oil supply data for the will be available later in the morning to investors.