Weekly Oil Report: Uncertainty Suppressing Bullish Sentiment

On August 18, Brent oil closed at $84.79 and WTI settled around $81.36. Check out the technical analysis.

Selling power took over and oil price came down by about 2% during the week. It was not a surprise to see oil losing gains as we mentioned in the last episode. The price is stalling in the 23% monthly fib level and it is not close to breaking the area either. The overall weekly movement is probably downward again.

The week mostly didn’t bear any specific or new happening to affect commodities.

Hot topics, again, were economic concerns. Expectations for the coming raise of US interest rates are weighing down on crude prices. It is also affecting the outlook for demand. Market participants are afraid to see lesser demand from China. Reports on supply are also interesting. Tanker Tankers stated that Iran has surpassed Saudi Arabia in crude oil exports to China. This is while Saudi and China agreed on expanding their crude trades.

Fuel and bitumen directions are not clear either. Although Singapore fuel increased on Friday, 18 Aug after a week of falling, there aren’t enough data to guess the future. Bitumen markets also gradually fell back in Europe with uncertainty rising in Asia.

India raised bitumen prices by 24.5 USD on August 15, making the country’s total price increase of 50 USD in one month. There are also some reports on the possibility of a 4% increase in the next 3 days in Iran’s vacuum bottom.

If you need bitumen, contact me for the exact price.