Oil prices entering bearish trend despite supply deal | Daily News

Oil prices entering bearish trend despite supply deal

Oil prices have entered a bearish trend despite short-term bounces, supply cuts and improved demand estimates.

The lateral range of $50-$55 a barrel was recently broken, with the new long-term support level for Brent edging closer to $45-$47 rather than $50 a barrel. With money managers' net length exposure to crude prices at the highest level in months, the risks for oil prices seem tilted to the downside. There are various reasons for this trend. The supply cut deal struck between members of the oil-producing cartel OPEC and non-members is ineffective and under question. We read everywhere that compliance is 90 percent, but Saudi Arabia is, in reality, the only member that is reducing output by a lot more than agreed according to OPEC figures (130,000 barrels per day cut above its agreed production), while Russia is at almost at a third (118,000 b/d versus the agreed 300,000 b/d). Meanwhile Emirates, Kuwait, Venezuela, Algeria and others are between 50 percent and 60 percent compliance on the agreed cuts. Only Angola is cutting more than announced.

This reliance on Saudi Arabia doing all the work is dangerous. Saudi Arabia has already announced it will increase output above 10 million barrels per day in February.

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