There are concerns that Libya and Nigeria will be boosting output in the near-term and that other OPEC members could violate terms of the output reduction effort.
“Unfortunately for the bulls, the oil market itself has fallen asleep after an initial surge. As Standard Chartered analysts including Paul Horsnell pointed out this week, prices have been stuck around a dollar a barrel above or below $55.50 since mid-December. Meanwhile U.S. crude closed above $54 a barrel only once since OPEC’s Nov. 30 meeting, despite crossing that price level 14 times,” according to Bloomberg.
Other major oil-producing nations that are not OPEC members but are pledging to curb production include Bahrain, Bolivia, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Malaysia, Sudan and South Sudan.
In addition to China, supply from the Asia-Pacific region is expected to fall over the next several years due to poor oil infrastructure investment.
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