OPEC wants to be reassuring despite the uncertainties linked to the Omicron variant. The strategy of the cartel and its allies will be decisive, in a context of market imbalance.

The year 2021 has been the year of catch-up for the barrel of oil, the prices of which have risen by more than 40%. Black gold, whose prices had fallen into negative territory at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, in the spring of 2020, has recovered. Brent and WTI broke through $80 a barrel last fall. The emergence of Omicron nevertheless affects the markets at the end of the year. This variant, which is emerging in the midst of the fifth wave of the epidemic, is leading to the implementation of new health restrictions and border closures around the world.