July 23, 2015 – Wall Street Journal
Oil Prices Enter Bear Market Amid Global Glut of Crude
By: Georgi Kantchev and Timothy Puko
U.S. oil prices sank into a bear market Thursday as a global glut of crude shows little sign of abating.
Prices had settled below the key $50-a-barrel mark for the first time since early April on Wednesday, and they kept falling for most of Thursday. An unexpected increase in U.S. crude inventories, announced earlier this week, combined with high production already coming from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, is raising concerns that the market is settling into a long period of oversupply.
Light, sweet crude for September delivery settled down 74 cents, or 1.5%, at $48.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest settlement since March 31. The U.S. benchmark has posted losses in 17 of the past 21 sessions. That skid has now dropped it into a bear market, down more than 21% from the 2015 high that it hit just a month ago.
Brent, the global benchmark, fell 86 cents, or 1.5%, to $55.27 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. That is Brent’s lowest settlement since April 2.
Read the full article here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/oil-weak-after-overnight-losses-oversupply-weighs-1437617638
“A lot less rigs being drilled ought to mean production declines, and that hasn’t happened so far,” said Rusty Braziel, an energy consultant.
