UPDATE - Kazakhstan Hopes Virus Variants Will Not Bring Oil Prices Back Down - Deputy Energy Chief

HOUSTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th December, 2021) Kazakhstan hopes that the emergence of new coronavirus variants will no cause global oil prices to slide to last year's lows in 2022, its deputy energy minister told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"We hope that oil prices will remain within the current range as the global economy expands next year," Murat Zhurebekov said on the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress in Houston.

The price of the US oil benchmark Brent in October climbed past $86 per barrel for the first time in three years, buoyed by resurging gas prices. It dropped 17% in November and is now trading slightly over $75 per barrel.

Zhurebekov added he hoped that the Omicron variant would not lead to a market intervention by the OPEC+ club of major oil exporters, who curbed output in May 2020 after pandemic-related restrictions stifled consumption.

Anthony Fauci, the White House's chief medical adviser, told media over the weekend that first data on the virus variant suggested it was not as severe as initially feared.

"This is the first reaction yet. If it turns out to be true we can hope that the oil market will stay as it is and no OPEC+ intervention will be needed," Zhurebekov said.

Global oil prices dropped last week over fears that the existing COVID-19 vaccines could prove less effective against the highly-mutated Omicron strain, but they rose again on Tuesday as concerns eased.