Oil prices are seriously declining during the American session. Brent crude has lost more than 90 cents over a day and is trading at about $61.8 per barrel. At the same time, the chart has updated the annual high at $63.4 earlier today. WTI has dropped by 2.7% and now costs less than $53.8 per barrel. Thus, the bears have already gained back from the bulls more than half of Friday's growth.
At the weekend, the market closed with an excellent fundamental background for growth:
• According to Baker Hughes, the number of active rigs in the United States decreased by 15 to 847. This is the local minimum since May 2018.
• According to Thomson Reuters survey, in January, OPEC countries reduced production by almost 900 thousand barrels per day.
• The US imposed sanctions against the Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA, and President Trump’s rhetoric is quite aggressive in this matter. He does not deny the possibility of sending the US military to Venezuela.
However, these factors did not help oil consolidate higher. Thus, we can assume that the decline is purely speculative.