OPEC Faces Omicron Uncertainty and Rebellious Customers

The oil cartel and Russia want to bolster prices after a 10 percent drop last week. But they also need to consider the release of reserves by the U.S. and other countries.

One thing is for certain when officials from OPEC, Russia and other oil-producing countries meet by teleconference on Thursday to decide how much oil to produce in January.

They will want to try to make sure that last Friday’s sudden, sharp collapse in oil prices — a drop of more than 10 percent within a few hours, set off by reports of a threatening new Covid-19 variant — does not become a rout.

“They will want to put some sort of floor under prices,” said Richard Bronze, head of geopolitics at Energy Aspects, a research firm.