Oil prices hang near the bottom as US inventories rise again

• Crude oil prices clatter along recent bottoms as US  stockpiles edge higher.
• The API is reporting broad increases in various stocks measures, implying demand is grappling with current production amounts despite outages.

Oil prices are back on the defensive with WTI crude barrels back beneath 68.00 as US inventory supplies bumped higher than expected.

Inventories of distillate fuel reserves rose by 1.7 million barrels on Wednesday, adding bearish pressure to oil prices which were already in decline from Monday, and oil prices are continuing to clatter along the bottom of recent technical levels.

US crude stockpiles also climbed by an unexpected 600 thousand barrels according to the American Petroleum Institute (API) late on Tuesday. WTI crude barrel prices are now touching into three-week lows lows as fossils traders continue to absorb the downside pressure of supply outages from Canada and Libya.

WTI levels to watch

With WTI crude prices sliding back into the 67.90 area, oil bulls will be looking for a bounce from a rising trendline in the 66.00 region, while June’s lows near 63.50 is putting a floor underneath any potential moves lower; with the severity of the recent drop on the technical charts, resistance is firming up at the last swing low of 69.25, with the year’s highs nearby at 75.35 per barrel.