January futures for WTI crude oil rose 1.05% to $ 70.22 per barrel.

Brent crude oil futures for January delivery rose 0.78% to $ 73.65 a barrel.

Earlier, the director of the Energy Development Fund Sergei Pikin, in an interview with the PolitExpert publication, gave a forecast regarding oil prices amid the pandemic, including the identification of a new strain of the omicron coronavirus.