WTI slips further, $53 in the cross hairs

Oil futures on NYMEX started a corrective slide after refreshing its daily high at $53.60 amid OPEC news and a stronger greenback. At the moment WTI is down 0.49% at $53.07.

OPEC deal not enough to balance the market

According to news agency Bloomberg, Iraq stays ready to cut its output during the second half of the year in case OPEC decides to extend the deal clinched in late December. Sources also cited that Iraq believes the oil cartel will likely need to extend the output cuts beyond the original date.

Although WTI was able to close Friday in the positive area despite another rise in the number of oil rigs in the United States, it has ended the week with a weekly loss of about 1.5%. The US oil rig count rose by seven to 609 this week, according to oilfield-services giant Baker Hughes. Increasing production levels in the United States continue to put a cap on how high oil can go.

Technical levels

To the upside, daily high at $53.60 could be the first technical resistance followed by $54 (psychological level) and $55.40 (static level). Supports are aligned at $53 (psychological level), $52.70 (Feb. 16 low) and $52.20/00 area (horizontal level/psychological level).