WTI loses ground below $74.50, investors focus on more supply

WTI edges lower to $74.30 amid the rising oil supply.
US crude oil inventories fell by 6.674M barrels for the week ending January 19 vs. 0.483M barrels gains previously.
The rising geopolitical tensions in the Red Sea are a primary driver behind lower demand for oil.

Lallalit Srijandorn FXStreet

Western Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US crude oil benchmark, is trading around $74.30 on Wednesday. WTI prices drift lower on the day as traders focus on increasing oil output in the US and rising supply in Libya and Norway.

According to the American Petroleum Institute weekly report on Wednesday, US crude oil inventories fell by 6.674M barrels for the week ending January 19 from the previous reading of 0.483M barrels.

Elsewhere, Norway’s crude production rose to 1.85M barrels per day (bpd) in December from 1.81M bpd the previous month, while Libya’s production was at 300,000 bpd. That being said, rising production might exert some pressure on WTI prices.

Apart from this, the sluggish economic recovery in China weighs on WTI prices, as China is the world’s largest oil importer. The weaker-than-expected GDP growth number for the fourth quarter of 2023 dampened oil demand.

On the other hand, the geopolitical tensions in the Red Sea might cap the downside of WTI prices. The Pentagon said on Monday that the US and British forces carried out a new round of strikes in Yemen, targeting a Houthi underground storage site as well as missile and surveillance capabilities used by the Iran-aligned group against Red Sea shipping.

Oil traders will monitor US S&P Global Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) data on Wednesday. The US GDP data for Q4 will be released on Thursday and the Core Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (Core PCE) will be due on Friday. These events could significantly impact the USD-denominated WTI price. Oil traders will take cues from the data and find trading opportunities around WTI prices.

WTI US OIL

Overview
Today last price	74.37
Today Daily Change	-0.13
Today Daily Change %	-0.17
Today daily open	74.5

Trends
Daily SMA20	72.63
Daily SMA50	73.41
Daily SMA100	79.3
Daily SMA200	77.27

Levels
Previous Daily High	75.21
Previous Daily Low	73.4
Previous Weekly High	74.6
Previous Weekly Low	70.63
Previous Monthly High	76.79
Previous Monthly Low	67.97
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	74.09
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	74.52
Daily Pivot Point S1	73.53
Daily Pivot Point S2	72.56
Daily Pivot Point S3	71.72
Daily Pivot Point R1	75.34
Daily Pivot Point R2	76.18
Daily Pivot Point R3	77.16

Author

Lallalit Srijandorn

FXStreet

Lallalit Srijandorn is a Parisian at heart. She has lived in France since 2019 and now becomes a digital entrepreneur based in Paris and Bangkok.

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