Crude Oil Outlook

Silver has risen twice as sharply as gold and so as a result, the gold/silver ratio has dropped to 76, its lowest level since the beginning of the month

The fragile state of US shale producers could mean the majority of supply growth next year will be driven by OPEC+

Currently, Brent prices are hovering around the $42/barrel mark

Exchange says it covered price volatility risk adequately with no default occurring during the price decline; brokers, however, says some margin calls were triggered

Commodity outlook and trading ideas by Bhavik Patel - Sr. Technical Analyst (Commodities), Tradebulls.

Limited spare production capacity should help to support crude in coming months

But strong oil-cap compliance by Opec and non-Opec members, falling output in Venezuela limit global supply, may push up prices in longer run

On February 15 in Doha, there was an agreement between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) producers Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela and non-Opec producer Russia to freeze crude oil output at levels seen before January 11, 2016. These talks were followed by meetings between Iraq, Iran, Venezuela and Qatar day to discuss a collective production freeze. Just after the talks, Iran said it agreed in principle to help balance the oil market, but did not sign up to the proposal. Any production freeze based on pre-January 11 numbers was tantamount to Iran in particular not being able to bring an additional supply after the sanctions on it were lifted unless countries such as Saudi Arabia agree to production cuts, definitely not the case in the Doha talks.Cracks clearly appeared in the days following the Doha talks. On February 23, Saudi Arabia's oil minister Al Naimi suggested the country would not cut production. He also said Saudi Arabia would continue to invest t