• The barrel of the WTI hovers around the $80.00 region.
• The API reported a nearly 3.4M barrels build late on Tuesday.
• Recession fears, Chinese reopening continue to dictate the price action.

Prices of the WTI trade without a clear direction around the key $80.00 mark per barrel on Wednesday.

WTI focuses on the EIA report, China

Prices of the commodity came under pressure following Monday’s new 2023 high past the $82.00 mark per barrel.

The weekly leg lower, however, seems to have met some contention around the $80.00 region on Wednesday, all ahead of the weekly report by the EIA due later in the NA session.

On this, the API reported a nearly 3.4M barrel build in the week to January 20 late on Tuesday, which appears to have been weighing on the traders’ sentiment so far in the session along with persistent recession concerns and their expected impact on the demand for crude oil.

In the meantime, the next risk event for the commodity will be the OPEC+ gathering on February 1, where the cartel is expected to keep the current status quo regarding the crude oil output.

WTI significant levels

At the moment the barrel of WTI is down 0.02% at $80.19 and a breach of $78.84 (55-day SMA) would aim for $78.18 (weekly low January 19) and then $72.50 (2023 low January 5). On the upside, the next hurdle is located at $82.60 (2023 high January 23) followed by $83.32 (monthly high December 1 2022) and finally $93.73 (monthly high November 7 2022).