“West Texas Intermediate oil, which fell Thursday after an unexpected increase in inventory, has rallied nearly 21 percent over the last two months, surging from $45 a barrel to $54 in the last few trading days of 2016. Ari Wald, head of technical analysis at Oppenheimer, has noted a multiyear bullish reversal in the charts that to Wald indicates moves closer to crude’s highs in June of 2015,” reports CNBC.
However, there are signs U.S. shale producers are prepared to ramp up production as highlighted by recent rig count data. About a dozen non-OPEC producers have also agreed to pare output.
OPEC has already agreed to reduce output by 1.2 million barrels per day. After the non-OPEC producers’ cuts, total reduction now represents almost 2% of global supply.
“Technically speaking, a bottoming formation means the asset has reached a low and could be in the beginning phases of heading higher. The bottom formation to which Wald refers formed around the $50 mark, which crude broke in early December — thus the formation’s completion,” according to CNBC.