After bouncing from multi-year lows, erasing some losses, oil prices have resumed their plunge lower as the end of the technical rebound draws to a close. The West Texas Intermediate crude oil blend traded below recent trough, trending under an important support level at $49.75. Any move below the next relevant level at $48.08 per barrel could be the motive for prices to slip even further to the downside and resume the prevailing medium-term downtrend. Supply in the oil market continues to grow as a Libyan pipeline comes back online and American producers pump at breakneck speed to meet debt repayments for shale projects. Not helping matters is the move by the Saudis to keep cutting prices in an effort to maintain market share. In any event, the squeeze higher in prices looks to have found its peak as analysts reposition estimates for prolonged weakness.
