Experts: Oil Prices May Have Further to Slide

Friday, 25 May 2012 12:00 PM

By Dan Weil

Crude oil has plunged about 15 percent from its February high, and some experts say the party’s just getting started.

Crude futures settled at a seven-month low Wednesday, just below $90, and remain not far from that level, weighed down by surging stockpiles and slowing global economic growth that has pinched demand.

Many market participants expect further declines. "Can we touch $75? It's only another $15. That's not unreasonable in my opinion," Kyle Cooper, managing partner at IAF Energy Advisors, tells The Wall Street Journal.
"With weak equities, slow demand and Iran playing nice, why do you want to own crude?"

Crude stockpiles have risen 11 percent in the last nine weeks to a 22-year high of 382.5 million barrels. And on the economic side, signs of weakness have emerged in recent days from Europe, including Great Britain; China; and the United States.

The dollar’s strength also is pressuring crude, as it makes the commodity more expensive for foreign buyers.

"The bears are in control and keep wanting to drive it lower, and we haven't seen any factor to shake them out of it," Gene McGillian, an analyst at Tradition Energy, tells The Journal.

One constituency that is happy to see oil prices fall is American consumers, who are benefiting from a 4 percent slide in gasoline prices during the last month.

“Drivers are getting a respite,” Rodney Waller, senior vice president of oil and gas company Range Resources, tells The New York Times.