Oil settles higher despite Omicron concerns | Reuters

Oil settles higher despite Omicron concerns | Reuters

Oil prices settled higher on Tuesday, with Brent crude ending the session near $80 a barrel despite the rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, supported by supply outages and expectations that U.S. inventories fell last week.

Brent crude settled up 34 cents, or 0.4%, at $78.94 a barrel by 1:39 p.m. EST (1839 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled up 41 cents, or 0.5%, at $75.98.

Both contracts traded at their highest levels in a month, aided by strength in U.S. equities.

"The stock market appears poised to finish the year at or near record highs with easy spillover into the oil space pushing crude values higher," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates LLC in Galena, Illinois.