Weekly Oil Report: Little Volatilities of Crude Prices

On Friday, Brent closed the week at $81.66 and WTI settled around $76.54. Watch crude technical analysis and comment your ideas:

Oil prices stayed rangebound with minor movements. Market was unable to break the resistance and it fell down slightly. Nothing has changed much compared to last week. The sentiment is bearish now but the movements are not extreme because the market can’t decide. Brent has been bound to 81 – 84 for 14 days.

Market experts believe that oil price is strongly tied to the fate of the Middle East tension. “I expect [crude futures] to remain [rangebound] until the Gaza crisis reaches the next turning point, either temporarily defused through a ceasefire or exacerbated with Israel’s onslaught in Rafah,” said Vandana Hari, CEO of Vanda Insights.

Supply expectations increased on Friday by rising active rigs and the return of a refinery. The US oil drilling rigs increased by 6 this week. Meanwhile, Iraq reopened the North Oil Refinery after almost a decade. The refinery was damaged by violence of two terrorist groups.

Bitumen price movement in Europe, South Korea, Singapore and Ivory Coast tends to increase. In Bahrain, prices stayed unchanged. Iran rates continued struggling to climb up. Prices will slightly increase at first of the March.

Feel free to contact me for bitumen inquiries or more information.

This article was prepared by Mahnaz Golmohammadian, the export manager of Infinity Galaxy (www.infinitygalaxy.org).