Crude Oil rebounds, WTI jumps over $2.50/barrel as Gaza tensions tighten once more

• WTI Crude Oil is climbing back up the charts as the Israel-Hamas conflict escalates once more.
• Calls for a cease-fire to allow humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza met with rejection, fury.
• EIA barrel counts rose more than expected, demand concerns to weigh on Crude Oil when geopolitical fears abate.

West Texas Intermediary (WTI) Crude Oil is seeing a geopolitical tension-fueled spike on Wednesday as the Gaza conflict continues to escalate, with Israel vehemently rejecting calls for a ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip for civilians trapped in the conflict zone.

Energy Information Administration (EIA) barrel counts showed a surprise uptick for the week into October 20th, with US crude inventories rising by 1.371M barrels, far and above the 0.239M market expectation, and eating away a significant portion of the previous weeks -4.491M barrel drawdown. 

Global Crude Oil markets continue to fear drastic undersupply in the face of extreme production cuts from member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), but lagging global growth is undercutting fossil fuels demand, keeping topside moves in barrel prices capped.

Energy markets will be keeping an eye on the Gaza Strip conflict as the week progresses, with UN fuel supplies in Gaza set to run dry either today or tomorrow, and continued destabilization in the region will leave barrel investors wary of any possible spillover into the nearby Strait of Hormuz, where nearly a fifth of all global crude production passes through the chokepoint.

WTI Technical Outlook

WTI Crude Oil hit an intraday low of $81.90 before hitting a rally into $84.65, and US-centric oil barrels are currently trading near $84.00 per barrel.

US Crude Oil has hit the brakes on a decline that has seen WTI bids close in the red for three straight trading days, and despite Wednesday's fear-fueled spike, WTI remains down over 6% from last Friday's peak of $89.64.

WTI continues to cycle the 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) in the near-term, but trending bullish and the current support barrier for any downside moves sits at early October's bottom at $80.63.

WTI Daily Chart

WTI Technical Levels