WTI collapses to 3-week lows in sub-$69.00 levels

• Prices of the WTI drop to fresh lows near $68.70 per barrel.
• WTI weaker on market chatter involving Trump and SPR.
• Trump-Putin meeting in centre stage ahead of weekly reports on supplies.

Prices of the barrel of the West Texas Intermediate are down by more than 2% on Monday, dropping below the $69.00 mark for the first time in three weeks.

WTI weaker on US SPR comments

The barrel of the WTI lost further ground today after President Trump hinted at the likeliness that the US could tap into its Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) in order to alleviate the downside pressure on prices. It is worth recalling that President Trump made several calls in past days for the OPEC to lower its prices.

In addition, US-China trade jitters continue to weigh on traders’ sentiment as it could impact on the global demand.

Collaborating with the downside, Libya informed last week that it expects to resume its exports of oil any time soon.

On a brighter side, the potential for US sanctions against Iran should somewhat limit the decline in prices, at least in the very near term.

Later in the week, the API (Tuesday) and the EIA (Wednesday) will publish their weekly reports on US crude oil inventories ahead of Friday’s oil-rug count by Baker Hughes.

WTI significant levels

At the moment the barrel of WTI is down 2.66% at $68.64 and a break below $67.86 (low Jun.27) would target $63.59 (low Jun.19) en route to $62.89 (200-day sma). On the upside, the next hurdle is located at $70.89 (21-day sma) followed by $71.25 (high Jul.13) and then $72.46 (10-day sma).