Oil Consolidates Near 6-Month Tops ahead of EIA Report
Oil benchmarks
on both sides of Atlantic take a breather from the overnight upsurge
and trades modestly flat as attention now turns towards the EIA
inventory report and FOMC minutes due later today.
WTI to test $ 50 mark on EIA report?
Currently, both crude benchmarks keep gains, with Brent up 0.28% at $
49.42 while WTI oil climbs +0.41% to $ 48.51. The black gold eases-off
multi-month highs, although trades within the upper bound of yesterday’s
trading range, as upside appears capped amid broad based US dollar
rebound.
However, oil prices continue to remain underpinned on the back of
ongoing supply disruption news, while bullish API report released
late-Tuesday also lends support to the recent oil-price rally. The API
report showed that crude inventories in the US fell by 1.1 million
barrels for the week ended May 13.
Later today, the EIA will publish its stockpiles data, with markets
predicting a fall of 3.1 million barrels in US crude reserves, following
a decline of 3.4 million barrels a week before.
Analysts at ANZ noted, "The EIA inventory data will be key to price
action. Any further decline in stockpiles could see oil's run higher
continue."
