Oil climbed today, continuing its 2022 upward march, after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) affirmed moderate output increase🌞s despite mounting pressure from consuming countries to ratchet up supply faster.

澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained about 0.7% today, trading at $88.86 a barrel. Brent oil yesterday added 31 cents to close at $89.47 in New York. The recent gains follow a volatile month that saw oil prices climb 14% in January amid supply concerns and fears that Russia—the world's third-largest producer—would invade Ukraine.

OPEC+, a group comprising the world's major oil producers and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:exporters, confirmed its planned monthly increases of 400,000 barrels per day (B/D), cautioning that reducing investment in fossil fuels was adding to surging prices. Customers want producers to open the spigots wider to meet rising demand ဣas economies recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

Spare Capacity Crimps Production

A lack of spare capacity by OPEC members has further complicated agreed-upon output targets, making it difficult for some states to meet production quotas. Although countries like Saudi Arabia could increase output, doing so may still drive oil prices h🧸igher by removing that backstop to guard against a global supply shock.

Meanwhile, a report prepared for the cartel's meeting cited by Reuters showed global oil demand growth remaining unchanged this year at 4.2 million B/D and forecast that demand would reach pre-pandemic levels in the second half of 2022.

"January has been a great month for oil prices, and $100 oil might not be too far away as expectations are high that supply will not come close to catching up with demand as OPEC+ will deliver gradual production increase targets that they will fall short of reaching," OANDA commodity analyst Ed Moya wrote in a note cited by S&P Global.

Oil Stockpiles Unexpectedly Decline

Oil prices gained further support on Feb. 2 after data from the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed an expected drop in crude inventories last week by 1 million barrels—analysts had expected 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:stockpiles to grow by about that amount. Moreover, refining capacity fell 1% from the previous week to 87%, more than the 0.1% decline analysts had forecast. Overall, U.S. oil inventories sit at 415.1 million barrels, roughly 9% below their five-year average.

🃏 Chart and Trading Data Indicate Bullish Sentiment to Remain

From a technical standpoint, Brent crude oil has consolidated above a six-month trading range, indicating that the bullish sentiment may continue in the short- to medium-term despite the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:relative strength index (RSI) sitting in overbought territory. Recent trading data also shows that oil bulls remain in control, with NYMEX crude net 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:long positions rising in four of the past six weeks to the week ended Jan. 25.

However, a failure to push through the psychological $90 mark or a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:breakdown below the range's upper trendline could see a retracement down to the next key level of support at $77.75.