The oil markets have fallen back from the $50 per barrel mark due to questionable Chinese demand and an expectation of early restoration of supply outages. Crude is currently entering a corrective phase, which could take it down to $42 per barrel and lower. The sharp rise in crude prices were supported by large supply outages in Canada, Nigeria, Libya and Venezuela—disruptions that removed 3.5 million barrels per day of oil from the markets, quickly turning the supply glut into a deficit. It was accepted that the Canadian supply would be back on track quickly after the wildfires, but there were serious doubts that the supply would rebound in Nigeria, Libya, and Venezuela. However, news about a rise in production in Nigeria in June and reunification of Libya’s National Oil Corp. under a single management weakened the resolve of the bulls to push prices higher. Nevertheless, […]