Oil rises as the market's fears over Omicron begin to ebb

Brent crude up to almost $70 a barrel as Opec+ continues to gradually boost output

Crude oil prices rose today, giving up their earlier losses, as Opec+ stuck to its policy of incrementally boosting output, and as market considered whether the Omicron coronavirus variant may not be as bad as feared.

Brent crude rose by over $1 to just under $70 a barrel. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, together known as Opec+, decided to release more oil into the market in January in line with previous months.