WTI cuts losses post-EIA, still below $53.00

Crude oil prices have bounced off session lows following a mixed EIA report today, with the West Texas Intermediate testing the $52.70/80 band per barrel at the time of writing.

WTI rebounds from $52.30

Prices for the WTI saw some bids after the weekly EIA report showed US crude oil inventories rose by more than 8.2 million barrels during last week. Today’s results add to Tuesday’s report by the API, where US crude supplies increased by more than 11.6 million barrels.

However, Distillate Stocks (-2.676 million) and Gasoline Inventories (-6.555 million) dropped more than initially estimated, somewhat offsetting the large build in crude stockpiles.

Further results saw supplies at Cushing up by nearly 870K barrels while US oil production rose by 0.6% WoW to 9.088 mbpd. According to the EIA, US total crude supplies rose to nearly 530 million barrels during last week.

Later in the week, US Non-farm Payrolls and the weekly report on US oil rig count by Baker Hughes should grab traders’ attention.

WTI levels to consider

At the moment the barrel of WTI is retreating 0.96% at $52.63 and a breach of $52.30 (low Mar.8) would aim for $51.22 (low Feb.8) and finally $50.91 (low Jan.18). On the upside, the next resistance lines up at $53.13 (20-day sma) followed by $54.23 (high Feb.28) and finally $54.61 (high Feb.27).