Crude oil prices pared most of their gains on easing geopolitical tension. It hit a low of $70.20 and currently trading around $70.26.
U.S. commercial crude oil stocks rose by 4.1 million barrels in the week of February 7, the EIA reported. This rise put the total storage of crude oil at 427.9 million barrels. A smaller rise was anticipated in the market. Despite the rise, crude oil stockpiles are still around 4% below the average for this period. Gasoline inventories declined, while distillate fuel inventories increased slightly. Refineries are running at 85% capacity, processing an average of 15.4 million barrels of crude per day. The U.S. currently produces around 13.49 million barrels of crude oil per day, and the EIA forecasts this to hit 13.6 million barrels per day in 2025
Price Resistance and Support Levels
The near-term resistance is around $71.10; any breach above this level could push prices higher to $72/$72.85/$73.06/$74.32/$75. On the downside, immediate support is at $70 violation below targets of $69/$68/$65.50.
It is good to sell on rallies around $71 with a stop-loss of around $73 and a target price of $66.
