US Oil (WTI) bulls stay on top, $82 intact

• WTI bulls hold in there but struggle to surge. The US Biden administration is weight.
• The White House looks to curb high oil and gasoline prices.

The price of West Texas Intermediate WTI crude oil climbed on Monday on the demand vs supply play-off following OPEC+ declining to boost production last week. However, the US Biden Administration remains a thorn in the side for the bulls as it is still looking to take measures to lower prices help check gains. WTI climbed from a low of $81.07 on Monday and scored a high of $82.64 with demand up and supply waning due to weak production and dwindling global inventories. 

Crude oil pared some of the day's gains as the White House looks to curb high oil and gasoline prices. President Biden said he wants to see more supply, with the administration looking at other tools such as tapping the strategic reserve, analysts at ANZ bank explained, noting that Energy Secretary, Jennifer Granholm, warned that could cut crude oil prices by 5%. This follows OPEC’s decision to stick with its scheduled 400kb/d increase in output despite consumers saying the current pace is too slow to sustain the post-COVID recovery.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's decision to hike their official selling price underscores a tight market but also highlights that the group of producers is ignoring President Biden’s calls for more oil, analysts at TD Securities explained. 

''OPEC's message to consumer nations was resoundingly clear—not only has the group of producers eased fears of a faster pace of output hikes, but it has clarified that member nations won't compensate for those who are underproducing relative to their quotas.''

''In reality,'' the analysts say, ''the OPEC+ group's decision likely acknowledges the fact that US production still remains curtailed, despite significantly higher prices, which allows the group to enjoy higher prices without fear of losing much market share. This suggests that the very cautious pace of output hikes should keep energy markets on a tightening trajectory in the near term.''