WTI crude falls amid thin trading

WTI crude oil retreated below the $80 level and is trading at $79.08 versus the previous closing price of $80.24 per barrel at the time of writing despite the positive comments by UAE energy minister on the sidelines of Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi over the weekend.

UAE Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei said that the oil market is ‘stable’ at the moment, unperturbed by the price caps on Russian crude oil.

“The market is a bit stable, and we think the decisions we took have been a good decision and an indication of the stabilization that we are seeing”, he said, adding that “Now with China opening, hopefully we will see a pickup in demand and when we meet, we will analyze that as usual. We always take the decision that serves the balancing of the market.”

Technically; daily chart parameters keep the price stuck in a range, testing daily trendline resistance. Oil fell in thin trading at the start of the week with US exchanges closed for the Martin Luther King, Jr, holiday. West Texas Intermediate spot is currently trading around $79.00 and is down by 1.25%.