Oil Price Fundamental Daily Forecast – WTI Price Target is $60.28 to $59.71

U.S. West Texas Intermediate and international-benchmark Brent crude oil futures are trading lower early Thursday. Traders are saying a firmer dollar is outweighing a private report of a decrease in U.S. crude inventories.

At 0800 GMT, April WTI Crude Oil is trading $61.04, down $0.64 or -1.05%. April Brent Crude Oil is at $64.88, down $0.54 or -0.83%.

The Greenback is trading higher for a fourth day, putting pressure on demand for dollar-denominated crude oil. The dollar is being supported by the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s January monetary policy meeting which showed policymakers are confident in the need to keep raising interest rates throughout the year.

In other news, the American Petroleum Institute (API) said late Wednesday that U.S. crude oil inventories unexpectedly dropped by 907,000 barrels to 420.3 million barrels for the week to February 16. Analysts had expected a small build of 1.333 million barrels in crude oil inventories.

U.S. crude oil production for the week-ending February 9 was up this week, coming in at 10.271 million barrels per day, yet another new high.

Gasoline inventories posted a build of 1.468 million barrels, slightly higher than the 1.229-million-barrel forecast.

Distillate inventories saw a fairly large draw of 3.563 million barrels. Analysts had forecast a smaller decline of 1.633-million-barrels.

Forecast

WTI and Brent crude oil futures are likely to remain under pressure on Thursday as long as the U.S. Dollar continues to climb.

The price action on the April WTI chart suggests prices are headed to at least $60.28 to $59.71 over the near-term.

If the downside pressure continues, April Brent futures should reach $63.80 to $63.31 over the near-term.

Traders are also likely to react to the latest weekly inventories report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. It is expected to show a build of 2.2 million barrels.

If the EIA report shows a surprise drop in inventories then prices could stabilize, or losses may be limited. However, the primary driver of the price action today is likely to remain the U.S. Dollar.