WTI breaks higher, $ 57.50 tested ahead of US rigs data

• Pipeline outage & weaker DXY underpins.
• The US drilling report and industrial figures on tap.

WTI (oil futures on NYMEX) broke its consolidative channel to the upside and went on to hit fresh two-day tops at $ 57.44, as the bulls looked to extend from five-day lows of $ 56.09 into a second day today.

WTI rejected just shy of the $ 57 mark

The upbeat momentum seen around the black gold is mainly driven by the renewed supply disruption concerns, after Forties pipeline operator Ineos declared force majeure on crude deliveries following Tuesday’s discovery of oil spillover.

Moreover, the USD-sensitive oil benefited from broad-based US dollar weakness, as a lack of progress on the US tax reform weighed negatively on the buck. However, it remains to be seen if the prices can sustain the upside, as yesterday’s IEA forecast report continue to remain a drag.  IEA: Global supply and demand not forecast to balance until late 2018

Markets now remain focused on the US rigs count and industrial production data for the next direction in the prices. At the time of writing, WTI trades +0.35% at $ 57.25 while Brent defends gains near $ 63.25.

WTI Technical Levels

Eren Sengezer, Analyst at FXStreet, noted: “The first technical hurdle for the barrel of WTI aligns at $57.85 (Dec. 13 high) ahead of $59 (Nov. 24 high) and $60 (psychological level). On the downside, supports are located at $55.80 (Dec. 7 low), $55 (psychological level) and $53.90 (Nov. 1 low).”