- The U.S. plans to impose sanctions on Venezuela oil exports.
- EIA says crude oil stocks increased by 8 million barrels in the week ending Jan. 18.
- OPEC’s Barkindo says leading oil producers cut supplies aggressively to avoid inventory buildup.
After closing the previous day with losses, crude oil staged a decisive recovery on Thursday with the barrel of West Texas Intermediate rising to a daily high of $53.22. As of writing, the barrel of WTI was up 0.92% on the day at $52.93.
With the United States looking to impose sanctions on oil exports from Venezuela amid the ongoing political turmoil in the South American country suggested that the supply could decline further and provided a boost to crude oil prices. Additionally, while speaking to Reuters on the sidelines at the World Economic Forum in Davos, OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo said that OPEC+ could take further action at their next meeting in April. “We have seen aggressive cuts by leading producers to avoid a resurgence of inventories of Q1. We are pretty satisfied with the response of the market,” Barkindo added to support today’s recovery.
Meanwhile, the weekly report published by the EIA showed that crude oil inventories in the U.S. increased by 8 million barrels in the week ending January 18 compared to the market expectation for a decline of 42K barrels. Although this data seems to have capped the WTI’s upside, for the time being, markets are likely to remain focused on political developments in Venezuela, which could continue to provide a lift to crude oil prices.
Key technical levels
WTI
Overview:
Today Last Price: 52.93
Today Daily change: 0.48 pips
Today Daily change %: 0.92%
Today Daily Open: 52.45
Trends:
Daily SMA20: 50.44
Daily SMA50: 50.71
Daily SMA100: 59.2
Daily SMA200: 63.88
Levels:
Previous Daily High: 53.7
Previous Daily Low: 51.91
Previous Weekly High: 54.17
Previous Weekly Low: 50.65
Previous Monthly High: 54.68
Previous Monthly Low: 42.45
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%: 52.59
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%: 53.02
Daily Pivot Point S1: 51.67
Daily Pivot Point S2: 50.9
Daily Pivot Point S3: 49.88
Daily Pivot Point R1: 53.46
Daily Pivot Point R2: 54.48
Daily Pivot Point R3: 55.25