By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was up on Monday morning in Asia, as ahead of an Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) meeting. As COVID-19 spreads, concerns over falling fuel demand have also restricted gains for this black liquid.

They were at $8:59 ET (11:59 GMT) up 0.4% to $78.17 and up 0.5% to $75.62 by 8:30 PM ET.

After the militia had shut down Libya’s largest field, workers are still trying to repair the pipeline. This will cause output to plummet to its lowest level for more than one year. Production is predicted to decrease by another 200k barrels each day in the following week. In addition to the lost supply due to Sharara’s closure, overall production is likely to drop to about 700,000 barrels per day.

OPEC+, which will be meeting Tuesday to discuss the production plan for February 2022, is still in process. Investors expect that the cartel will stick with its plans to increase global supply by another 400,000 barrels per day.

“I think OPEC+’s decision is a foregone conclusion and omicron news and data will remain the major influence on oil sentiment,” Vanda (NASDAQ:) Insights founder Vandana Hari told Bloomberg.

“We’re likely seeing some bargain hunting today after a rush to sell at the end of last week.”

COVID-19 also remains a concern, with China continuing to tackle its latest outbreak in the city of Xi’an and other countries also battling outbreaks fueled by the omicron variant of the virus. The increased number of Americans infected by the virus is likely to increase due to holiday travel and New Year festivities. This could cause severe disruptions over the next few weeks.