Oil looking for Monday lift, WTI ticking over $52.50

• Barrel traders looking for a continued bull run on planned OPEC production cuts.
• US oil markets will not be taking part in planned production decreases, easing upside price pressures in WTI.

Crude oil prices are seeing limited gains in early Monday action, extending last Friday’s gains following OPEC+’s announcement that the oil cartel would begin cutting production in 2019.

On Friday it was announced that OPEC and non-affiliated countries (largely Russia) would be cutting  crude production by 1.2 million barrels beginning in January. WTI swung to a peak of 54.10 on the news before falling back into the 52.00 range with the US crude industry opting to not take part in the cuts.

Despite the proposed cuts, oil price forecasts remain on the down side, and analysts at Bernstein Energy are cutting their crude oil demand expectations, from 1.5 million barrels per day down to 1.3 bpd  for 2019,   and growing fears of a global growth slowdown are further keeping crude costs on the low end.

WTI Technical Levels