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West Texas Intermediate (WTI) US Crude Oil prices attract fresh sellers during the Asian session on Friday and erode a part of the previous day's strong move up from the vicinity of the lowest level since December 19, touched earlier this week. The commodity currently trades just below the $58.00 mark, down over 0.80% for the day, and remains capped below the 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) pivotal resistance.

The commodity did get a strong boost on Wednesday after the US government data showed that oil inventories shrunk more than expected, by 3.8 million barrels in the week to January 2. This marked the largest decrease since late October, which, along with rising geopolitical risks and supply disruption worries, prompted aggressive short-covering around Crude Oil prices. The move up, however, lacks follow-through amid expectations that the US control of Venezuela’s oil was likely to increase global supplies.

In fact, a WSJ report said that US President Donald Trump is planning an initiative to control the Venezuelan oil industry for several years to come in a bid to achieve the $50 a barrel price target. The report further added that the Trump administration is also considering controlling Venezuela’s state-run oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela SA, or PdVSA. Furthermore, Trump had said earlier this week that Venezuela will be turning over 30 million to 50 million barrels of high-quality, sanctioned oil to the US.

Apart from this, worries about weakening fuel demand and the recent US Dollar (USD) rise to a nearly one-month peak, touched on Thursday, fail to assist the black liquid to build on Wednesday's gains. Traders now look forward to the release of the US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report for more cues about the Federal Reserve's (Fed) future rate-cut path. The outlook will play a key role in influencing the near-term USD price dynamics and provide some meaningful impetus to USD-denominated commodities, including Crude Oil prices.

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