Daily outlook for crude oil prices

Quotes from Commerzbank Corporates & Markets:

-Oil prices initially found themselves under further selling pressure yesterday ahead of the publication of US inventory data. Brent fell at its lowest point to $58 per barrel, while WTI was trading for a time at below $50 per barrel. Prices then began to rally in the late evening, Brent climbing above the $60 mark again and WTI rising to nearly $52. This is because Baker Hughes will be publishing new figures for drilling activity in the US this evening.

-A further sharp decrease in the oil rig count is expected there, which points to declining US oil production in the second half of the year. This does nothing to change the considerable oversupply on the oil market in the short term, however, which is also why US crude oil stocks are continuing to grow massively.

-According to the US Department of Energy, they increased last week by an additional 7.7 million barrel to reach a new record level - what is remarkable is that this happened despite lower imports. On the other hand, US crude oil production continued to rise, achieving its highest level since 1973.

-The crude oil inventory build has totalled more than 43 million barrels in the last six weeks. Last week saw oil stocks at Cushing surge by 3.7 million barrels, which marks their third-strongest weekly increase since the data series began nearly 11 years ago.

-Cushing stocks have doubled within just three months and currently find themselves at their highest level since July 2013. We therefore see downside potential for the oil prices. What is more, the price gap between Brent and WTI, which has already increased significantly in recent weeks, is likely to widen even further on the back of stock trends in the US.