Oil continues to trade in the mid-term uptrend, constantly updating new yearly highs. The latest one was reached at $72.2 per barrel of Brent crude on Wednesday, April 17. After that, a local bearish correction returned the quotes to the support line. And it is likely that now bulls will continue to strengthen their positions within the current price range. The closest setback should be the resistance zone of $72.8-73.0. However, if the bulls got over it, the next price target will be the $76.0 level. We wonder when the current long-term bullish trend will stop. It has been moving the asset up since late December 2018. Although oil is a volatile asset, there must be a correction.
On Wednesday, US reported its crude oil inventories. API predicted a decline of 3.1 million barrels. And there was a decline in oil reserves, for the first time in 4 weeks.
The EIA official data showed a decrease of 1.4 million barrels last week. Distillates stocks and gasoline inventories also declined, but less than analysts had expected. As a result, this data caused a diverse movement and a local surge in volatility.
National Bureau of Statistics of China announced that the volume of oil refinery output in China increased by 3.2 percent year-on-year in March up to 53.04 million tons, or 12.49 million barrels per day. After quite good statistical data on China’s GDP and industrial growth, this could be a fundamental support for oil buyers.