WTI consolidates near $ 72.50 ahead of API data

• Tighter markets amid US sanctions on Iran buoy oil prices.
• Bulls await fresh impetus for the next push higher.

WTI (oil futures on NYMEX) consolidates its recent run-up to eleven-week tops and remains well bid near the midpoint of the 72 handle, tracking the renewed uptick in its European peer, Brent.

Brent oil refreshed four-year tops at $ 82.20 and remains on track for its fifth straight quarterly increase, largely on the back of looming supply disruption threats from the US sanctions on Iran, effective November 4, while the OPEC and Russia remain hesitant to raise output to counter the tightening of the global supplies.

Also, dwindling US stocks levels underpin the sentiment around the black gold. The US crude stockpiles sit at 3-1/2-year lows, according to the latest EIA data. Meanwhile, the markets digest the latest comments from the OPEC Secretary General Barkindo ahead of the American Petroleum Institute (API) crude stockpiles data due later at 2030 GMT.

WTI Technical Levels

Resistances: $ 72.83 (mid-May tops), $ 73 (round number), $ 73.50 (psychological level).

Supports: $ 71.50 (daily pivot), $ 70.73 (Sept 20 low), $ 70.32 (10-DMA).