Crude oil futures ended higher with gains of over three and half percent on Tuesday as prices rebounded from losses in the previous session. An announcement from Moderna Inc. that a booster dose of its Covid-19 vaccine appeared to be protective against the Omicron variant in laboratory testing contributed to the uptick in oil prices. However, omicron accounted for 73% of new infections in the US last week, a nearly six-fold increase in only seven days. Meanwhile, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there is now consistent evidence that Omicron is spreading significantly faster than the Delta variant.
Benchmark crude oil futures for January delivery rose $2.51 or 3.7 percent to settle at $71.12 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for February delivery surged $2.64 or 3.68 percent to settle at $74.16 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.