By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was up on Monday morning in Asia, but the rapidly spreading omicron COVID-19 variant raises fuel demand concerns. However, both supply interruptions in Kazakhstan (and Libya) helped to limit losses.

By 9:48 ET (2:48 GMT), the price had risen 0.37%, to $82.08 (up 0.37% from $99.16). The $80 threshold was still below by 0.33%, with $79.16 rising to $79.16.

The latest U.S. Jobs Report, which included, was digested by investors last week. Baker Hughes Co.’s report stated that the total number of oil-and gas rigs increased by 2 to 588 over the week ended January 7, making it the most recent since April 2020.

In Asia Pacific, mass testing took place in China’s northern city of , with two community cases confirmed as being the omicron COVID-19 variant. This could further impact fuel demand in the world’s largest oil importer.

The black liquid will likely be boosted by supply interruptions in other countries.

Kazakhstan’s security forces appear to have repressed protests in Almaty, and President Kassym Jomart Tokayev stated that constitutional order was mostly restored. The protests began in the country’s oil-rich western regions over the removal of state price caps on butane and propane on Jan. 1.

Operators reported that production in Kazakhstan’s strategically important oilfield Tengiz fell on Thursday after contractors blocked train tracks to support protests. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:). However, normal production is slowly recovering now, Chevron said.

Due to maintenance on pipelines, production in Libya fell to 729,000 barrels/day from the high of 1.3million bpd in 2021.

OPEC+’s supply of oil from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) is not keeping up with the demand. The cartel’s output in December 2021 rose by 70,000 bpd from the previous month, versus the 253,000-bpd increase allowed under a supply deal that year.