WTI surges above $47.00, fresh 3-day tops

Crude oil prices have reverted the initial downbeat sentiment and are now lifting the barrel of West Texas Intermediate to fresh tops beyond the $47.00 mark.

WTI bid on DoE announcement

Prices of the WTI quickly climbed above the $47.00 handle after the US DoE announced it will lend 500K barrels of oil from the Strategist Reserve to the Phillips 66 refinery in Louisiana in order to allay fears of a raise in motor fuel prices.

The measure aims to counteract some of the impacts of the Hurricane Harvey on the US oil industry, as the largest US refinery is expected to remain closed for two weeks.

WTI is thus managing to extend further the bounce off recent 5-week lows in the $45.60 region recorded earlier in the session.

WTI levels to consider

At the moment the barrel of WTI is gaining 2.46% at $47.09 and a break above $47.34 (high Aug.31) would open the door to $47.53 (100-day sma) and finally $47.93 (21-day sma). On the other hand, the next support is located at $45.77 (low Aug.31) seconded by $45.40 (low Jul.24) and then $45.25 (61.8% Fibo of June-August up move).