WTI clings to $66.00 post-EIA report

Prices of the barrel of the American reference for the sweet light crude oil are extending the downtrend and gyrating around the $66.00 mark.

WTI offered around $66.00/bbl

Prices of the barrel of the West Texas Intermediate are down for the third session in a row following the publication of the DoE’s report, although they have managed to bounce off recent 2-month lows in the $65.30 area (Tuesday).

The EIA’s report failed to lift the mood around WTI after US crude oil inventories rose by 3.217M barrels during last week.

In addition, Weekly Distillate Stocks dropped by 4.054M barrels and Gasoline inventories went down more than forecasted by 3.161M barrels.

Further out, supplies at Cushing rose by 1.878M barrels, adding to last week’s 1.371M barrels increase.

Prices of crude oil remain under pressure so far today, shedding more than 15% in October only, falling from multi-year tops beyond the $77.00 mark per barrel seen earlier in the month to yesterday’s low in the $65.30 region.

Concerns over the US-China trade dispute, prospects of lower demand for crude oil in the next months and renewed jitters regarding potential oversupply in the markets have been weighing on traders’ sentiment as of late. Also keeping the pressure on prices, a survey by Reuters said that the OPEC increased its production this month to the highest level since 2016.

News from the speculative community showed that oil net long positions dropped to the lowest level since late October 2017 during the week ended on October 23, as per the latest CFTC report.

Moving forward, driller Baker Hughes will release its weekly report on US oil rig count on Friday.

WTI significant levels

At the moment the barrel of WTI is down 0.32% at $66.06 and a breakdown of $65.32 (low Oct.30) would expose $64.69 (low Aug.16) and then $63.59 (low Jun.18). On the upside, the next resistance lines up at $67.34 (10-day SMA) followed by $67.70 (200-day SMA) and finally $70.00 (high Oct.18).