DeHaan: Oil Markets Not As Concerned About Omicron Variant

Despite wild weather in the Midwest and Southeastern U.S. and growing tensions with Russia and China, coronavirus remains the top issue for oil investors. Patrick DeHaan with GasBuddy said the Omicron variety has had the attention of the markets for roughly two weeks, but he noted investors are not as concerned about this new variety as they once were.

“Oil prices initially had plummeted down to $62 per barrel, but as we’ve gotten more information that the variant is maybe less aggressive than anticipated, oil prices have started to rally simply for the reason more governments are likely to ease any restrictions rather than locking citizens down.”

What about the wicked weather that’s pounded the states of Kentucky, Arkansas, Illinois and others?

“Tornados are very small, and very powerful, and very localized.  And it’s for that reason that hurricanes which are much broader and lead to much wider damage generally impact gas prices.  If a tornado wreaked havoc on a major refinery, that would be a different situation.  But in this instance, there’s not much of a disruption, in fact no disruption in the flow of gasoline.”

DeHaan said at this point, any international issues between the U.S. and China, and the U.S. and Russia are not impacting oil prices.

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