WTI remains capped below $68.50 on disappointing Chinese data, surprise climb in crude inventories

• WTI trades with mild gains near $68.20 in Wednesday’s early Asian session. 
• Discouraging Chinese economic data and a surprise climb in crude inventories drag the WTI lower. 
• US crude stockpiles rose 499K barrels last week, noted API. 

West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US crude oil benchmark, is trading around $68.20 on Wednesday. The WTI price remains on the defensive amid a surprise climb in crude inventories and weak demand outlooks, particularly in China. However, the escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East might cap the downside for the WTI price. 

WTI prices edges lower after disappointing China's international trade data on Tuesday. China's exports rose 6.7% YoY in November, while Imports fell by 3.9% YoY during the same period. Both the readings came below the market consensus. Additionally, China also reported a weaker-than-expected consumer price index (CPI) on Monday, underlining the ongoing sluggish domestic demands. This, in turn, could undermine the WTI price as China is  the world's biggest oil importer, China's demand outlook has a direct influence on the crude markets

An increase in US crude inventories last week might weigh on the black gold price. The US American Petroleum Institute (API) weekly report showed Crude oil stockpiles in the United States for the week ending December 6 rose by 499,000 barrels, compared to a rise of 1.232 million barrels in the previous week. The market consensus estimated that stocks would decrease by 1.3 million barrels. 

On the other hand, turbulence in the Middle East increased over the weekend as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family fled to Moscow and were granted political asylum, ending 50 years of a brutal dictatorship. The ongoing geopolitical tensions in tthe Middle East could help limit the WTI’s losses.