WTI: Will it regain $ 68 mark ahead of EIA data?

• Middle East tensions continue to underpin amid rising US output concerns.
• Awaits fresh direction from the US EIA crude inventory data.

Having tried another to attempt to the 3.5 year tops of $ 69.56 yesterday, WTI (oil futures on NYMEX) extended its corrective slide to test the $ 67.50 support before finding strong support at the last to now trade near $ 67.80 levels.

The black gold is seen enjoying good two-way business so far this Wednesday but remains within a confined range, as the bulls await the US EIA weekly crude stockpiles data for the next push higher.

The upside appears capped due to the bearish API crude inventories data released late-Tuesday, which showed that the US crude inventories rose by 1.1 million barrels in the week to April 20 to 429.1 million.

However, the sentiment around the barrel of WTI remains underpinned by the geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran over the nuclear deal, which could threaten oil supplies from the OPEC’s no. 3 oil producer, Iran.

Meanwhile, all eyes remain on the US EIA crude inventory report for fresh trading opportunities. Singapore-based Phillip Futures said in a note: “Should a larger than expected build occurs in U.S. inventories, we can expect a swing in prices as markets have been shown to be extremely sensitive to weekly U.S. petroleum data.”