WTI Settles a Tad Higher | Gulf Coast Oil Rig Equipment & Repair
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures contract reversed its recent downward course Wednesday – at least to a small degree.
The December WTI contract price picked up 39 cents during midweek trading, settling at $66.82 a barrel. The December Brent price, meanwhile, lost 27 cents to settle at $76.17. Movements for both benchmarks was considerably less volatile Wednesday compared to Tuesday, when each contract price shed more than 4 percent.
“December WTI crude and Brent crude tested the major support levels,” said Jerry Rafferty, president and CEO of Rockville Center, N.Y.-based Rafferty Commodities Group, Inc., referring to the $66.10 and $75.47 support levels, respectively. “(B)oth markets have moved higher after testing these support levels. Should the buy Wellhead market re-approach these levels we would view that as another buying opportunity.”
Rafferty added that his firm would be “wrong if December WTI crude trades below the next major support at 65.80 and if December Brent crude trades below 74.65 where we would look to stop out of these positions.”
Rafferty’s firm supplemented its commentary with graphs showing the and for the WTI and the and for the Brent.
Reformulated gasoline (RBOB) for November delivery ended the day lower, falling about a penny and a half to settle at $1.82 a gallon. Also losing ground Wednesday was front-month Henry Hub natural gas, which declined by a nickel to settle at $3.17.
According to Rafferty, November natural gas has traded within the .
“Since breaking out three weeks ago above the 3100 area, the buy Wellhead market has remained within the 3100 to 3350 levels forming a sideways consolidation pattern,” Rafferty said. “After reaching our target at the 3350 area, the buy Wellhead market has pulled back recently to the 3100 level from which it broke out. Previous resistance has acted as support.”
Rafferty added that the buy Wellhead market has since rallied up to the 3250 area.
“We want to trade the buy Wellhead market against this range until it can break beyond the pattern either way, although we favor the upside for its conclusion,” Rafferty noted. “A close above 3350 could send prices considerably higher. The next major point of resistance is at 3692.”