WTI defends $91.00 on fears of Russian invasion, API data eyed

• WTI pauses pullback from fresh eight-year high, sidelined after snapping three-day winning streak.
• US Secretary of State Blinken rules out need for meeting Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, loud blast heard in Donetsk.
• West started rolling out sanctions, Canada was the latest one.
• Weekly oil inventory data from API, risk catalysts can keep bulls hopeful.

WTI crude oil prices remain steady at around $91.40, following a pullback from the fresh multi-month high. In doing so, the energy benchmark pushes back the sellers after the quote printed the first negative daily closing in four by the end of Tuesday’s settlement.

Although US President Biden’s speech may have helped markets to take a sigh of relief, Western sanctions on Russia and escalating fears of Moscow’s imminent invasion of Kyiv keep oil buyers hopeful. It is worth noting that the firmer yields seemed to have triggered the latest profit-booking of WTI but the geopolitical woes keep it firmer ahead of the weekly industry stockpile data from the American Petroleum Institute (API).

US President Biden’s comments like, “We have no intention of fighting Russia,” seem to have played the role of turning down the fears of a full-fledged war between the West and Moscow. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s request for troops to the decision body at home, as well as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s rejection of the need for Thursday’s meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, blow the cautious optimism.

Elsewhere, Canada followed the path of the UK, the US and the European Union while announcing the latest sanctions over Russia, which in turn keep the geopolitical fears on the table and favor oil buyers.

Also underpinning the WTI oil prices is the inability on the part of the OPEC+ to match supply increase commitments. The energy cartel raised output by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) recently but hasn’t had success in delivering the production hike due to outages in multiple units and geopolitical fears.

It’s worth observing that the upbeat prints of the US PMIs for February join softer USD to also favor WTI buyers.

Moving on, developments surrounding Russia and Ukraine will be crucial for oil traders to watch as the bulls are likely to keep reins. Also important will be the API Weekly Crude Oil Stock for the week ended on February 18, prior -1.076M.

Read: Crude oil prices eye $100 ahead of Russia sanctions

Technical analysis

Unless providing a daily closing below 21-DMA level of 89.47, WTI crude oil prices are likely to remain on the bull’s radar.