WTI Crude Oil Trading Flat In Asia Thursday

WTI Crude Oil Trading Flat In Asia Thursday

Crude Oil prices advanced 2.49% against the USD for the 24 hr frame ending 23:00 GMT, closing at 48.95, after the EIA disclosed that US Crude Oil stocks eased more than market expectations.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed that US Crude Oil inventories declined by 4.2-M bbls to 459.7-M bbls in the week ended 24 July, against an anticipated decrease of 0.7-M bbls.

In the Asian session, at GMT0300, the pair is trading at 48.95, with the EUR trading flat from Wednesday’s close.

The pair is expected to see 1st support at 47.72, a break there could push it to next support at 46.49.

The pair is expected to see 1st resistance at 49.85, a break there could drive it to next resistance at 50.75.

WTI Crude Oil is trading above its 20 Hr and 50 Hr MA’s.

Overall Crude Oil is biased to the Southside medium-term.

International Crude Oil and financial sanctions against Iran will be lifted.

Shayne and I expect it will take a year + before Iran can increase production significantly. This is probably a reason for the Crude Oil price movement.

Iran owns about 10% of global Crude Oil reserves and 18% of the Nat Gas reserves. Multinational Oil companies including Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS-A), Total of France (NYSE:TAT), and Eni (NYSE:ENI) of Italy have also approached the country for investment opportunities in recent weeks.

Before lifting of sanctions, Iran has a production capacity of 3.5-M BPD around 4% of global output. Its export markets include: China, India, Japan, South Korea and Turkey.

On Crude Oil inventory, the industry-sponsored API estimated Crude Oil inventory fell -7.3 M bbl in the week ended 10 July.

For the DOE/EIA report due Wednesday, the market expects Crude stockpile to have dropped -1.2-M bbl.

For fuels, gasoline stock probably fell -2.04-M bbl, and distillate rose +1.3-M bbl.

Crude Oil’s collapse is largely attributed to lower global demand, which was accompanied by more production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). OPEC members, seeking to defend their market share of a highly oversupplied Crude Oil market, have engaged in a ‘price ware.”

West Texas Intermediate (WTI), also known as WTI Crude Oil or Texas light sweet, is a grade of Crude Oil used as a benchmark in Oil pricing.

This grade is described as light because of its relatively low density, and sweet because of its low sulfur content.

WTI Crude Oil is the underlying commodity of Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s COMEX Oil futures contracts.

The price of Crude Oil is often referenced in news reports on Oil prices, alongside the price of Brent Crude (OIL) from the North Sea.

Other important Oil markers include the Dubai Crude, Oman Crude, Urals oil and the OPEC Reference Basket.

WTI Crude Oil is lighter and sweeter than Brent Crude Oil, and considerably lighter and sweeter than Dubai or Oman.

Stay tuned…

HeffX-LTN

Paul Ebeling

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