- Rising tensions from a war between Ukraine and Russia are keeping oil prices rising, nearly 2% on the day.
- Satellite images show Russian troops leaving assembly points, according to CBS News.
- WTI Technical Outlook: Bullish bias as geopolitical tensions keep oil bulls targeting $100.
The benchmark US crude oil index, Western Texas Intermediate (WTI), It barely advances, after Friday’s jump of 3.78%. At the time of writing, WTI is trading at $94.00, almost unchanged.
Geopolitical events dampened market sentiment in financial markets. Russia’s intentions of a possible invasion of Ukraine keep oil prices pushed up, based on the fact that a war can trigger Russian sanctions on Western countries, including cutting off the supply of natural gas and oil. (Russia is the third largest producer of natural gas and crude oil.)
The president of Ukraine, Zelensky, reported that February 16 would be the day of the attack, tensions rise and oil jumps.
At around 18:50 GMT, they made statements that satellite images show Russian troops leaving assembly points and moving into attack positions, CBS News reports. Along with that development, the Wall Street Journal reported that the United States is closing its embassy in Kiev and relocating its diplomatic operations to western Ukraine. In addition, Ukrainian President Zelensky said that Ukraine “has been informed” that Wednesday, February 16, “will be the day of the attack.”
WTI reaction
In the headline, WTI jumped almost $2.00, and at 19:09 GMT, it is trading at $95.20 as tensions rise, despite efforts to find a diplomatic way to end this conflict.
Meanwhile, OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo told reports that “there is no doubt that we care about ensuring that the security of supply is also guaranteed.” However, he stressed that if demand continues to grow according to the group’s projections, “the world will continue to be thirsty for oil for the foreseeable future,” Barkindo said.
WTI Price Forecast: Technical Outlook
WTI is skewed to the upside and is trading above the Feb 11 daily close at $93.88, although the upside seems to stop at the midline between the upper center lines of the Pitchfork uptrend channel around $95.00, which once broken it would expose $100.00.
However, WTI will face some obstacles on its way north. The first resistance would be at $95.00. A daily close above that level would expose August 2014 swing highs around $98.55, followed by a probe of $100.00, followed by the upper line of the Pitchfork channel around $102.00.
Additional technical levels
Source: Fx Street
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