Oil fell marginally from its 11-week high on Friday as traders looked to rake in profits. Still, traders believe that this decline is temporary, both from a technical and fundamental point of view.
Despite Friday’s dropoff, both West Texas Intermediate and Brent headed for their third consecutive weekly gain, spurred on by curbed Saudi and Russian output as well as supply disruptions in Africa. WTI was trading around $75 per barrel.
“Technicals are driving trading action today as crude is bumping up against significant resistance,” Rebecca Babin, a senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth observed. WTI has failed to breach its US 200-day threshold, however, it appeared to be on course to doing so in April.
African supply disruptions came as protestors shut a major oil field in Libya after a smaller field was shut earlier in the day. Flows to the Forcados oil terminal in Nigeria were suspended in order to check for a potential leak.