A number of factors have been contributing to the lower oil prices, including rising from the U.S. and Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, potential increase in exports from Iran, a stronger U.S. dollar, weakening China outlook and lower institutional interest.
“There has been a lot of money looking to pile into the short-side, and there have been an accumulation of different triggers to cue that over a short time. Some were looking at Iran; for some it is macro spill overs from Greece or China; for others it’s a pure dollar play, and for others the rise in U.S. rig counts,” Paul Horsnell, head of commodities at Standard Chartered, said in a CNBC article. “None of those work in isolation, but put them all together in a short period and they’ll do it. And after that, the technicals kick in to give a further push down.”
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Max Chen contributed to this article.