WTI holding on to $48.00 ahead of rig count

Crude oil prices are showing some response after yesterday’s drop, now lifting the barrel of West Texas Intermediate to the $48.00 neighbourhood.

WTI attention to data

Prices for the WTI are prolonging the choppy trade so far this week, although the underlying tone stays on the bearish side as concerns over the supply glut stays everything but unabated.

Earlier in the session headlines cited Saudi Arabia have reduced its exports to the United States, giving extra oxygen to oil prices.

However, prices for the black gold stay under pressure against the backdrop of rising US stockpiles as per weekly reports by the API (Tuesday) and the EIA (Wednesday), taking US supplies to a record of more than 533 million barrels during last week.

In addition, prospects of rising US production remain sustained by increasing drilling activity and keep weighing on traders’ sentiment, threatening at the same time to offset any impact on prices from the ongoing OPEC/non-OPEC deal to cut the output, originally aimed to stabilize the oil market.

Ahead in the session, driller Baker Hughes will publish its weekly report on US oil rig count (+14 prev.).

WTI levels to consider

At the moment the barrel of WTI is gaining 0.63% at $48.00 and a breakout of $48.48 (high Mar.23) would open the door to $48.69 (200-day sma) and finally $49.62 (high Mar.16). On the flip side, the initial support lines up at $47.59 (low Mar.23) followed by $47.08 (2017 low Mar.22) and then $44.82 (low Nov.29).