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WTI: Bulls look to $64 amid escalating US-Iran geopolitical tensions

  • WTI bulls regain control in Europe, $ 64 back in sight.
  • Escalating Mid-East tensions after US airstrike on Iranian militia.
  • EIA Crude Stocks data and US ISM data eyed for next direction.

WTI (oil futures on NYMEX) bulls have regained control in the European session, as they head back towards the eight-month highs of $63.83 reached in Asia this Friday.

The black gold jumped more than $2.5 or 4% in early Asian trades after both the US and Iran confirmed that the US killed Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in an airstrike at the Baghdad International Airport.

This was marked as a major US escalation on the ongoing Mid-East geopolitical issues by the industry experts, as they warned against strong Iranian retaliation. With the escalation seen at a point of no return, markets fret that this may disrupt the oil supplies from OPEC’s No. oil exporter, Iran.

Meanwhile, the sentiment around the oil markets remains underpinned by the US-China trade deal optimism and falling US crude inventories, as reported by the American Petroleum Institute (API) earlier this week. The API data showed a draw of 7.8M barrels of oil for the week ending Dec. 27.

The barrel of WTI now looks forward to the weekly US Crude Stocks data due to be published by the Energy Information Administration and fresh development on the US-Iran rift for further moves.

WTI Technical levels to consider

 

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