Open interest in crude oil futures markets shrank by nearly 1.1K contracts on Thursday, printing the first drop since December 22 according to preliminary readings from CME Group. In the same line, volume left behind three daily builds in a row and went down by around 77.3K contracts.

WTI: Another visit to $72.50 is not ruled out

Thursday’s uptick in prices of the WTI was on the back of shrinking open interest and volume and undermined the continuation of the ongoing bounce. That said, renewed weakness in the commodity carries the potential to drag prices to the recent contention region around $72.50 (January 5).