WTI advances after four consecutive days of losses, steady at around $84.80s

• Geopolitical issues between Ukraine and Russia, and middle-East tensions, triggered the jump in oil prices.
• The International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that OPEC+ missed its production targets.
• The US Department of Energy approved an exchange of 13.4 million barrels of crude oil from the SPR.
• WTI is upward biased, though a break above $85.83 would expose $86.90.

On Tuesday, the Western Texas Intermediate (WTI), US crude oil benchmark, advances some 1.65%, trading at $84.97 per barrel at the time of writing.

The rise in oil prices is attributed to a list of factors. Eastern Europe geopolitical tensions between Ukraine and Russia, and the attack on Monday on a United Arab Emirates US military base, increased worries of a tighter supply of the so-called black gold.

Additionally, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) encountered problems to hit its target of 400K crude oil barrels per day, as reported by Reuters. 

The International Energy Agency  (IEA) said in the last week that the group missed its production targets by 790,000 barrels per day (BPD) in December as members like West African producers Nigeria and Angola struggled to raise output.

Meanwhile, around 20:00 GMT, the US Department of Energy approved an exchange of 13.4 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to seven companies as part of President Joe Biden’s effort to help control oil prices, per Reuters.

WTI Price Forecast: Technical outlook

The black-gold trimmed some of its Monday’s losses but failed to break above $85.83. That said, WTI’s is upward biased. The daily moving averages (DMAs) reside below the spot price, though the 50-DMA is about to close above the 100-DMA, which sits at $76.75.

To the upside, WTI’s first resistance would be January 24 daily high at $85.83. A break above that level would expose the January 20 cycle high at $86.90.