Crude Oil continues to show resilience, as Oil prices continues to find support on dips. It has been sticking around $80, but that’s where OPEC wants it, as they said last week. Today’s EIA inventories showed another buildup, but it was less than expected, which gave Oil a small push higher, but WTI crude failed to push above last week’s high and has retreated back to $80.

Crude Oil Daily Chart – The 200 SMA Has Turned Into Support

Oil prices were already on a bullish trend earlier today, with traders shifting their focus to the outcome of the latest OPEC+ meeting. Earlier this week, China announced new measures aimed at boosting growth, which should have given Oil a massive boost. However these measures were perceived as falling short of expectations.

Traders are now seeking more clarity on how China plans to achieve its 5% growth objective for 2024. This uncertainty surrounding China’s growth strategy has influenced market sentiment and contributed to the ongoing volatility in Oil prices, however, the trend remains bullish, although buyers are reluctant to push the Oil price too high above $80.

Weekly EIA Oil Inventory Report

Today, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a 1.4 million barrel increase in crude oil inventories for the week ending March 1. Additionally, the EIA projected draws of over 4 million barrels in both gasoline and distillate (intermediate) stockpiles.

Comparatively, the crude Oil build of 1.4 million barrels contrasts with the previous week’s increase of 4.2 million barrels. Concurrently, there was a drawdown observed across fuel inventories. Specifically, gasoline stockpiles were projected to have decreased by 4.5 million barrels in the final week of February, compared to a decrease of 2.8 million barrels in the preceding week

• Crude oil inventories increased by 1.367 million barrels, lower than the estimated build of 2.116 million barrels.
• Gasoline inventories experienced a drawdown of 4.460 million barrels, surpassing the estimated drawdown of 1.640 million barrels.
• Distillates inventories also saw a drawdown of 4.131 million barrels, higher than the estimated drawdown of 0.665 million barrels.
• Cushing inventories increased by 0.701 million barrels, lower than the build of 1.458 million barrels reported last week.

Additionally, Private Data from Yesterday:

• Crude oil build of 0.423 million barrels.
• Gasoline drawdown of 2.800 million barrels.
• Cushing build of 0.500 million barrels.

US WTI Crude Oil Live Chart