WTI retreats below $25 ahead of EIA's Weekly Petroleum Status Report

• API's weekly data showed crude oil stocks rose by 11.9 million barrels.
• Russia says market-driven production declines are not same as actual output cuts.
• Coming up: EIA's weekly Crude Oil Stocks Change.

Crude oil prices suffered heavy losses in the second half of the day on Tuesday and the barrel of West Texas Intermediate closed the day 7.75% lower at $24.25. The weekly data published by the American Petroleum Institue revealed that crude oil stocks in the US declined by 11.9 million barrels in the week ending April 3rd to further weigh on the WTI.

Although a technical correction on Wednesday lifted the WTI a daily high of $25.27, investors seem to be reluctant to make large bets amid the lack of convincing headlines suggesting that the OPEC+ will opt out for deep production cuts. As of writing, the WTI was trading at $24.35, adding 0.5% on a daily basis.

Eyes on EIA report

Earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov noted that that market-driven oil production declines were not the same as actual output cuts. On Tuesday, the US Department of Energy said in its monthly report that the oil producers in the US were expected to cut their output by around 2 million barrels per day amid falling demand and decreasing storage capacity. 

Later in the session, the Energy Information Administration will publish its weekly oil market report. In addition to the Crude Oil Stocks Change, investors will keep a close eye on the Total Products Supplied figures, a gauge of fuel demand in the US.

Technical levels to watch for