Oil prices post weekly loss on Omicron uncertainty

18 Dec Oil prices post weekly loss on Omicron uncertainty

Oil prices fell on Friday and were also down on the week as surging cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant raised fears of new restrictions and fall of fuel demand.

Brent crude futures settled down $1.50, or 2%, at $73.52 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped $1.52, or 2.1%, to settle at $70.86 a barrel. Brent was down 2.6% on the week and WTI fell 1.3%.

In Denmark, South Africa and Britain, the number of new Omicron cases has been doubling every two days. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Friday her government would propose new restrictions to limit the spread.

In the United States, the rapid spread of the Omicron variant has led some companies to pause plans to get workers back into offices.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and allies, together known as OPEC+, have said they could meet before their scheduled Jan. 4 meeting if changes in the demand outlook warrant a review of their plans to add 400,000 barrels per day of supply in January.

But despite the Omicron threats to demand, Goldman Sachs said on Friday the new variant has had limited impact on mobility or oil demand, adding that it expected oil consumption to hit record highs in 2022 and 2023.

Oil prices have retreated from multi-year highs earlier in the fourth quarter on improved supplies.