For the first 11 months of the year, OPEC talked oil prices up, but by December it became clear that oil prices were not going to rise higher on mere promises, and so OPEC announced a deal to cut production in their Algiers meeting on November 30. Crude oil promptly responded by rallying 12% since the announcement of the deal. Adding to the OPEC production cut of 1.2 million barrels a day, non-OPEC nations verbally agreed to pitch in, proposing a cut of 600,000 bpd. The total reduction achieved on paper was 1.8 million barrels a day. However, the $52-a-barrel mark for WTI has become an important level. Once it hits $52, the market starts worrying about the fundamentals. This time, it is no different. OPEC, while agreeing to cut production, has in the past shown questionable commitments to its agreements, which puts a question mark on the implementation […]