Commodity Market: US Crude Oil resumes slide as API reports a surprise US crude inventory build

After surging more than 3% on Wednesday, futures on US West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil resumed their slide on Thursday after an unexpected rise in US crude oil stockpiles during the past week.

An industry report by the American Petroleum Institute showed yesterday that US crude oil stocks had increased by 2.9 million barrels during the week ended September 4th, surprising markets as analyst estimates had pointed to a 1.4 million barrel decrease.

The official government report on crude oil inventories by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) is due out at 15:00 GMT today. If the report shows a build in US crude oil stocks, this would be the first inventory increase since mid-July.

The EIA has already revised down its global oil demand growth forecast for 2020 by 210,000 barrels per day to 8.32 million barrels per day.

The surge in inventories comes just ahead of the September 17th meeting of the market monitoring panel of OPEC+. Last month the group eased oil production curbs on projections of rebounding demand.

“Despite the recent slide in oil prices, we think that the OPEC+ leadership will continue to direct its efforts towards securing better compliance rather than pushing for deeper cuts at this stage,” RBC analysts wrote in an investor note.

As of 9:55 GMT on Thursday WTI Crude Oil Futures were retreating 1.84% to trade at $37.35 per barrel, while moving within a daily range of $37.30-$38.18. WTI Crude Futures have retreated 11.90% so far in September, following four straight months of gains.

Brent Oil Futures were retreating 0.89% on the day to trade at $40.24 per barrel, while moving within a daily range of $40.16-$40.94. Brent Oil Futures have dropped 11.75% so far in September, following five straight months of gains.

Daily Pivot Levels (traditional method of calculation) – WTI Crude Oil Futures

Central Pivot – $37.55
R1 – $38.95
R2 – $39.84
R3 – $41.24
R4 – $42.63

S1 – $36.66
S2 – $35.26
S3 – $34.37
S4 – $33.47

Daily Pivot Levels (traditional method of calculation) – Brent Oil Futures

Central Pivot – $40.39
R1 – $41.39
R2 – $42.19
R3 – $43.19
R4 – $44.20

S1 – $39.59
S2 – $38.59
S3 – $37.79
S4 – $37.00