Oil prices surged on Tuesday as investors bet on robust global demand despite the spread of the Omicron variant, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
The West Texas Intermediate for February delivery added 2.99 U.S. dollars, or 3.8 percent, to settle at 81.22 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for March delivery increased 2.85 dollars, or 3.5 percent, to close at 83.72 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
The rally came after the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Tuesday in its Short-Term Energy Outlook that it expected global oil demand to grow by 3.6 million barrels per day in 2022, higher than last month's estimate.