At this point, there’s no need to go back to the 2014-2016 slump in crude oil prices. Everyone knows that, but everyone also expected 2017 to be the year oil would make a comeback. So what’s been happening? Following the OPEC deal in November last year, crude oil prices started to climb from lows of under $30 a barrel. The deal was that OPEC members would cut oil production by 4.5% to about 32.5 million barrels per day. This production cut was supposed to boost crude oil prices to the $50 range, which it did.
The chart above represents Brent crude oil prices, which seemed to honour the OPEC deal intentions, until April. The first slump in crude oil prices occurred in March, and this was caused by an increased production of oil in the US. The slump was later countered by increased long positions on oil futures, since oil is one of the best commodities to invest in during summer.