Up $0.70 or 0.95%
The price of crude oil futures are settling the at $74.15 which is up $0.70 or +0.95% on the day. A week ago, the price closed at $68.58. The gain of about $5.50 is a 8.2% change for the week.
The catalysts include:
- Lack of OPEC+. The OPEC meeting last week disappointed the market looking for increased production to offset supply issues
- Iran. The US wants allies to stop all import of Iranian oil. That will cut potential supply by over 1MM bpd
- Venezuela production continues to fall
- Demand this week showed a drawdown of nearly -10,000K much higher than the -3000K estimate.
The US Baker Hughes rig count fell for the 2nd week in a row. The supply from the Permian basin is being constrained by problems with transporting the oil. There just is not enough trucks to get the oil out of the pipeline.
Technically, the price today traded to the highest level since November 2014 (continuous contract). Earlier this week, the price moved above the 2018 high at $72.83 on Wednesday. The next target comes in at $74.89 which is a topside trend line connecting highs from January 2018 and May 2018 (see chart above).
