Underpinned In Asia

WTI and Brent are +$0.90 at writing, printing ~$96.60 and ~$98.90 respectively.

• To recap, both benchmarks have backed away from Monday’s best levels, as the latest round of western sanctions on Russia have largely spared Russian energy exports, easing earlier worries re: disruptions to global oil supplies. A note that difficulties still remain for energy exports as several banks have halted trade financing for Russian commodities over the past week, with participants assessing the possible impediment to the movement of crude out of Russia.
• Crude has managed to shake off Monday’s BBG sources report, which suggested that the U.S. and its allies are discussing a co-ordinated release of up to 60mn bbls of crude from emergency reserves, with a decision expected “within days”.
• Uncertainty remains when it comes to the prospects of an Iranian nuclear deal, with a Reuters source report on Monday stating that the Iranian position has “become even more uncompromising”, suggesting that the country wants “to open issues that had already been agreed”. The U.S. has also since stated a willingness to pull out of talks should Iran show “intransigence to making progress”.
• From a technical perspective, resistance for WTI and Brent remains intact at their Feb 24 highs of $100.54 and $105.79, respectively, while support is seen at $90.06 (Feb 23 low and key support) for WTI, and $96.00 (Feb 25 low) for Brent.