Prices of oil rose in the early hours of Monday as Brent crude rose by 2.03% to close at $71.30 per barrel.
This is coming after Saudis boosted the prices of its crude, signalling confidence in the demand outlook despite the spread of Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The price gain is also factored by a diminishing prospect of a rise in Iranian export as indirect U.S.-Iran talks on reviving a nuclear deal appeared to hit an impasse.
Recall that on Sunday, Saudi Arabia raised January official selling prices for all crude grades sold to Asia and the United States by up to 80 cents from the previous month.
The price hikes were implemented despite a decision last week by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, to continue increasing supplies by 400,000 barrels per day in January.
Oil benchmarks rebounded after falling last week for their sixth week in a row for the first time since November 2018 on concerns that the new coronavirus variant Omicron could impact global economic growth and fuel demand.
The West Texas Intermediate gained 2.14% to trade at $67.68 per barrel. However, Natural gas dropped by 7.14% to trade at $3,837 while OPEC Basket dropped by 2.23% to trade at $70.03 per barrel.
Similarly, Nigerian crude, Bonny Light, was up by 2.26% to trade at $70.68 per barrel.
