After finally rising to over $50 dollars a barrel, oil prices have begun to slump again as U.S. producers continue to expand output.
As Bloomberg reports,U.S. drilling rose last week to its highest level in over a year. The expanded production comes after OPEC followed through on its promise to ramp down production. In the wake of the OPEC announcement, Russia also cut its drilling operations.
But, with U.S. operators pouncing on the new market opportunity, the increased stateside output has resulted in a saturated oil sector once again, countervailing the positive results of the OPEC and Russia cuts.
American production has now risen to almost nine million barrels a day, with the rig count still growing. And with President Trump’s plan to go ahead with the Keystone XL pipeline, oil prices may not rise further for a long while.