WTI shedding more than 1% to $47.50 ahead of EIA

Crude oil prices are resuming the March sell-off today, now dragging the barrel of West Texas Intermediate to the mid-$47.00s, or daily lows.

WTI attention to EIA

Prices of the barrel of the American reference for the sweet light crude oil are once again visiting levels below the $48.00 mark in response to another build in US supplies, as reported by the API late on Tuesday.

In fact, the API’s weekly report showed US crude stockpiles increased by over 4.5 million barrels during last week, more than initially estimated, taking at the same time US oil supplies to 533.6 million barrels.

The increasing US oil production is offsetting the potential impact on prices from the OPEC/non-OPEC deal clinched in late 2016. This agreement contemplates a deal to cut the oil output by 1.8 million barrels per day during H1 2017.

Later in the session, the EIA’s weekly report is due (-0.237 mb prev.) ahead of Friday’s US oil rig count by driller Baker Hughes.

WTI levels to consider

At the moment the barrel of WTI is losing 1.45% at $47.54 and a breakdown of $47.23 (low Mar.21) would aim for $47.09 (2017 low Mar.14) and then $44.82 (low Nov.29). On the flip side, the next resistance lines up at $48.68 (200-day sma) followed by $48.73 (high Mar.21) and finally $49.62 (high Mar.16).