Oil Prices Extending Gains, Up 11% This Month

US crude futures keep climbing, recently up 1.3% at $92.65 a barrel, which if maintained would be the highest close since Aug. 29, 2022 and would be a fourth consecutive session of gains. WTI crude has risen by 11% this month and is 37% higher from late-June lows seen just before Saudi Arabia and Russia deepened their production cuts again on July 3 to artificially prop up a market that had been struggling in 1H23 amid weakened US and European industrial demand. “Crude oil is higher flirting with technical breakout levels that if breached to the upside will cause a flurry of short covering, thus sending prices to the high-$90 levels,” says Spartan Capital’s Peter Cardillo, in a note.