Crude oil prices edged higher on Thursday as the EIA report yesterday revealed an unexpected draw in U.S. crude supplies due to Hurricane Harvey in August. WTI crude oil gained 0.92% to trade at $52.63 as of 12:00 GMT.
Inventories of U.S. crude fell by roughly 1.9m barrels in the week ended Sept. 22, confounding expectations of a rise of 3.4m barrels. Gasoline inventories rose around 1.107m barrels, whereas the expected was 921,000 barrels. Distillate stockpiles were down by 814,000 barrels, below expectations of a decline of 2.2m barrels.
Technical view
Crude oil prices were trading in a consolidation and the sideways trend finally took a side to form a “Bullish Pennant chart pattern”. Prices were trading in the triangle area between $52 and the Lower support line at $51.60. As prices broke above the triangle resistance line, crude oil prices are likely to continue towards $54.
Alternatively, a break below the slope line could lead towards $50.80. Additional support holds at the psychological level at $50.