The Oct WTI trading session settled at 67.31 (+1.56), had a high of 67.97, a low of 65.63. Cash price is at 65.79 (-2.91), while open interest came in at 233,215. Higher on the day by 2.37% CLV traded below its 200 day (77.5), its 50 day (76.48), its 20 day (72.72) and its 7 day (68.54) moving averages. The COT report as of 9/3 showed commercials with a net short position of -239,369 compared to non-commercials who are net long 204,784. Crude oil recovered some of the losses from yesterday, with today’s rally driven by several factors in my view. These include Tropical Storm Francine being upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane, which has led to the shutdown of Exxon, Chevron, and Shell refinery facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, a smaller-than-expected increase in U.S. inventory levels, and the transition from October to November contracts. The EIA reported that domestic crude oil inventories rose by 833,000 barrels for the week ending September 6, reversing the previous week’s decrease of 6.873 million barrels, the market forecast was expecting ~1 million barrels. Although it wasn’t the draw bulls would have liked to have seen, the build up being less than the forecast could be viewed as slightly bullish in my opinion. On top of that, yesterday the API reported a larger-than-expected drop in commercial inventories, which fell by 2.79 million barrels last week. Reuters reported that Libya’s crude oil exports sank by 81% this week compared to the previous week, amid the ongoing standoff between the two government factions.
