WTI recovery loses steam near $70

• Falling Iranian production continues to boost oil prices.
• Russia keeps output levels steady in September.
• Reuters survey shows that OPEC output reaches 2018 high in August.

Crude oil is struggling to preserve its bullish momentum on Monday, and the barrel of West Texas Intermediate is staying quite near the critical $70 mark. At the moment, the barrel of WTI is trading at $70.08, adding 20 cents, or 0.3% on the day.

Latest market reports suggest that the U.S. sanctions on Iran forced the output of the country to decline by 150K barrels per day in August to provide a boost to crude oil prices. Furthermore, citing a report published by the Russian Energy Ministry’s CDU-TEK unit, Bloomberg reported that after ramping up the production by 250K barrels per day in June and July, Russia has kept the output level steady in August and was likely to do so again in September.

"Exports from OPEC’s third-biggest producer are falling faster than expected and worse is to come ahead of a looming second wave of U.S. sanctions. Fears of an impending supply crunch are gaining traction," Stephen Brennock, an analyst at London brokerage PVM Oil Associates, told Reuters on Monday.

However, the above-mentioned developments failed to ease the concerns over excess oil supply. Earlier today, Reuters announced that, according to the latest survey, the OPEC's total output in August on a monthly basis reached its highest level of the year to cap the gains of oil.

Later in the week, markets will be paying close attention to the weekly U.S. stock reports published by the API and the EIA.

Technical levels to consider

The initial support could be seen at $70 (psychological level) ahead of $69.40 (50-DMA) and $68.20 (Aug. 28 low). On the upside, resistances align at $70.50 (Aug. 30 high), $71.60 (Jul. 13 high) and $72.90 (May 22 high).