What is the outlook for oil as prices slip into bear market territory?

Overproduction concerns

Tom Eckett
clock • 3 min read

Oil prices fell 2% to trade below $43 a barrel on Tuesday, entering bear market territory, after news of increased supply from Libya and Nigeria continued to scupper attempts by OPEC and non-OPEC producers to cut global output.

The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures fell as low as $42.75 a barrel before closing at a nine-month low of $43.23.  This is the lowest level since 15 November last year, two weeks before OPEC agreed a deal to cut output by 1.8 million barrels a day. WTI is now down more than 20% on its 52-week closing and intraday highs, slipping into bear market territory, even though last month OPEC and non-OPEC countries agreed to extend their production cuts until March 2018. According to Reuters, in May OPEC and non-OPEC compliance with the deal reached the highest it ha...

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