WTI remains firm at/above $54.00 on EIA report

Prices of the barrel of West Texas Intermediate are trading on black figures on Wednesday above the $54.00 mark following Tuesday’s sharp down move.

WTI bid around $54.00/bbl

After recording fresh 2018 lows in the $52.60 region on Tuesday, prices of the American reference for the sweet light crude oil have now regained the buying interest amidst the renewed offered bias around the buck.

WTI stays bid despite the EIA reported another weekly build in US crude oil supplies, this time by 4.850 M barrels. Today’s report came in opposed to yesterday’s draw of around 1.5M barrels reported by the American Petroleum Institute (API)

Additionally, Weekly Distillate Stocks dropped by 0.077M barrels and Gasoline inventories went down by 1.295M barrels, more than previously estimated.

Furthermore, stockpiles at Cushing shrunk by 0.116M barrels, partially reverting last week’s 1.167M barrels gain.

Crude oil prices appear to have met decent contention around $52.60 for the time being. The ongoing rebound feeds on the weaker greenback and supportive comments from President Trump regarding the US relationship with Saudi Arabia, allaying the potential geopolitical effervescence.

However, concerns over rising oil supply in the US remain poised to keep weighing on traders’ sentiment, at least in the near term and ahead of the OPEC+ meeting on December 6, where the cartel is likely to agree a 1M-1.4M barrels output cut.

Moving forward, driller Baker Hughes will publish its weekly figures for the US oil rig count (Friday).

WTI significant levels

At the moment the barrel of WTI is gaining 1.49% at $53.97 and a breakout of $57.80 (10-day SMA) would open the door to $61.59 (21-day SMA) and finally $67.85 (high Oct.29). On the downside, immediate support emerges at $52.61 (2018 low Nov.20) seconded by $52.54 (monthly high Sep.28 2017) and then $48.92 (monthly low Oct.6 2017).