From February to mid-March, oil prices receded rapidly. WTI dropped by 22 per cent in six weeks. Brent crude was down about 15 per cent. Then, in the past four weeks, the oil inched back up to the price levels at the start of February.Late January, Baker Hughes data showed US rig counts had fallen significantly in the preceding six months. This was expected to help curtail supply, and lead to an increase in prices. Along with this, the impact of weather in Iraq and violence in Libya curtailed production and lead to a rally in prices in January. Even though the rig count had reduced from a peak of about 1,600 to 900 in March, during the same time oil production went up from about 9 million barrels a day (mbpd) to 9.37 mbpd, the highest level in the US since 1982. This was because the producers were focusing on their most productive wells and increasing output from them. In April, Barker Hughes reported the rig count had further reduced to 760. Now, production trend seems to changing as

Aditya Gandhi

Aditya Gandhi

Aditya Gandhi

Why are oil prices fluctuating?